Soul and Maka meet the Bogeyman
by Azurevi
Summary: Maka and Soul are put on the case when children begin to act strangely all over Death City. Maka's first priority is saving the children and Soul's first priority is protecting Maka, when those goals conflict there's trouble!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! I have not forgotten about my other stories but I wanted a break from smutty M's and wanted some fresh characters. Lo and behold from the heavens descended a Netflix recommendation that was to change my fanfictiony future! Soul Eater! Which is righteously awesome. I'm only through like the first fifteen episodes and have read two fanfics already. Love love LOVE the characters and Soul and Maka are the freaking cutest little heart-string pullers on the planet! Eee!**

**Please review and let me know what you think (like if the characters have the potential to carry a whole story as I write them), keep me updated about how I'm holding each character and their relationships.**

**XOXO**

**Az.**

* * *

"Flat."

"Not!"

"Flat."

"NOT!"

"Then prove it."

"Like hell!" Maka Albarn thwacked Soul Eater Evans with the hard leather-bound book she held.

But not, he noted with no small amount of amusement, with the spine. In some very suppressed way Maka was enjoying their banter. Granted someone without prior experience with the two would think she was just being violent but hitting Soul with the cover and not the spine was downright flirting for Maka.

"Maka. If you don't prove it then protesting just reinforces that you're… flat." He gestured to her chest.

"… Fine." She carefully slid her book back into her bag, like it was fragile and precious, despite that she'd just tried to brain him with it.

"Fine?" Soul gave her a trepidations sideways look and willed no blood to rush to his cheeks. "Sooo you're saying you're going to flash me."

The book was utilized as a tool for Soul-destruction once again, this time with the spine.

"… ow."

"I'll just ask Kid. He's a neutral enough party and not only will he give you a cup size but also he can tell us about how perfectly _symmetrical_ they are." She stuck her tongue out at her weapon and skipped down the street, in a different direction from their apartment.

"I… Wait… He's not neutral!" Soul yelled after her, sprinting to catch up.

"No?" Maka glanced over her shoulder, using her meister senses to keep from running into obstacles.

Soul thought about Death the Kid's comments on Maka's apparently perfectly symmetrical eyes and nose and hair and body. He couldn't be sure if Kid really thought about Maka that way, not with Patty and Liz right there, but he certainly spent a fair amount of time looking at her from what he said.

"No! He's a guy! … granted a really weird metrosexual OCD guy but still!" Soul caught her by the strap of her bag. "Any guy we ask is biased, scouts honor."

"You were never a scout."

"The point still stands."

"But if I ask a girl to back me up then you're going to assume she's just taking my side with no evidence." Maka rocked back on her heels and Soul released her bag, letting her lean against a wrought-iron fence post.

"Hey I wouldn't-" Soul paused, thinking it over. "Yeah okay I would."

"So what do we do? I still vote Kid."

"Absolutely not." Soul held up his arms in a big cross to reinforce his conviction. "How about we just drop it."

"If you didn't like the idea of Kid fondling my girl bits than you shouldn't have brought it up in the first place." Maka huffed, turning to head back in the direction of their apartment.

Now that she was looking away the blush that Soul had been swallowing rose full-force, making his face feel hot enough to fry an egg on. "Could we stop talking about _anyone_ fondling or in any other manner handling your… _girl bits_?"

"Don't accuse me of being flat-chested without being sure." She spun and gave him a serious look. "Just because I'm out-shone by all our other female friends doesn't mean I'm still built like a boy."

Soul looked away, staying a step behind in the shadow of a building and giving his blood time to relocate from his face. He'd never be able to tell her that nobody, _nobody_ outshone her.

_And when did she start giving a damn about how she was built anyway? This used to be a safe topic for banter._ He thought irritatedly. "Let's just go home Maka. It's been a long day and we're supposed to be getting our next mission tomorrow."

They walked the few blocks home in relative silence, broken only by Maka's quiet humming as she looked around at the barren winter city-scape.

"You think it will snow soon?" She asked earnestly, pulling Soul from his distracting thoughts.

He had to blink a few times to clear the image of Kid with a clipboard and set of scales with a disembodied set of breasts on them. Strange conversation spawned stranger mental images. "Maybe."

"Will you have a snowball fight with me when it does?" Maka unbuttoned her long black coat and hung it in the hall closet.

Soul felt the tug of his shark's smile at the familiar annual question. Every year Maka asked him and every year he gave her the same answer.

"As long as I look cool when I kick everyone's ass." He hung up his coat next to hers and they put scarves, gloves and her hat on the hat rack by the door.

"No promises, last year you looked pretty dumb when Black Star hit you with that mega-snowball."

"It had a brick in the middle!"

"To his credit, he didn't know that at the time."

"He made a snowball at the construction site! He should have been more careful."

"You're one to talk Mr. yellow snowballs."

"It was FOOD DYE! How many times do I have to tell you?"

"What do you want for dinner?"

"… Huh?" He had to pause to process the lightening-speed change in topic. "Meat?"

"'Kay." She smiled and went to the kitchen. "You can have the bath first, it'll take me a few minutes to get all the prep work done."

Soul trudged to the bathroom, feeling like he'd somehow lost two banter sessions in a row. He turned on the bathwater and kicked the door closed but didn't notice the black cat in the witch's hat that slipped inside, her midsection stopping the door with a faint squeak.

Without the coat it was only two more layers to bare skin and soon Soul was staring into the mirror half-naked. He still wore his pants but even had the top button of those undone so he could trace the full length of the faint but serious scar that bisected his whole chest.

He had other scars, Maka did to—it was an occupational hazard for meisters and their weapons—but none as serious as this. It had nearly driven Maka and him apart, her nearly crazy with guilt that he'd been hurt protecting her and him crazy mad at her for being so stupid.

_A weapon always is prepared to lay down his or her life for their meister. That's just how it works._ He gripped the sink and glared at the mark. _And I am damn proud of this scar, it shows everyone else just how cool I really am._

A knock at the door was followed by a gasp as it swung open on its hinges without resistance.

"Sorry!" Maka squeaked, spinning to face away. "I-I just wanted to ask-"

"I'm still mostly decent, no worries." Soul turned and leaned against the sink, arms crossed. "What's up?"

Maka turned, cheeks a pretty shade of pink as her eyes met his, then dipped down. He liked the way she looked at his chest, specifically at the scar. After reconciling her feelings of guilt she saw the scar the same way he did, as a mark of bravery and loyalty. Usually now the blush would fade and she'd smile at the scar like seeing an old friend but this time the blush stayed even as she smiled faintly.

"You've healed… well." She managed, the blush deepening.

He tilted his head at her. "Uh yeah, that WAS like years ago."

"Right." She shook her head sharply and smacked her fist down into her open hand. "Oh yeah! I wanted to ask if you wanted me to make enough for Black Star as well."

Soul shook his head. "That's a slippery slope Maka. You know if you do Tsubaki will show up with Black Star and you'll feel bad and call Kid and Liz and Patty so they don't feel left out."

The girl smiled sheepishly. He was right, for some reason on boys' night if she cooked enough for three then four would invariably show up. Some kind of cosmic effect or something.

"Okay, just the two of us then." She slid the door shut behind her, letting the lock click this time.

Soul stripped all the way, sinking into the tub as it filled. "Just the two of us." He murmured, eyes closing.

"And me!" A voice purred in his ear as someone very curvy and very naked slid into the bathwater. "Hey Soul, can I scrub your back?"

"AAAGH!" He yelped as Blair wiggled her butt on top of his feet. After a few years he had gotten so used to having a naked voluptuous woman in the apartment that the nosebleeds had stopped but she still occasionally got the drop on him when he had his guard down.

The door blasted open and Maka strode in, yelping in a similar fashion as Soul had when she saw his compromising position, face reddening again and she shut her eyes and took two steps forward and turned, relying on her battle instincts to have mapped out the room and both occupants' locations from one glance. Without any hesitation she reached out and grabbed Blair by the hair, which changed to the scruff as the cat transformed back into her true form.

She turned and nearly ran into the wall except for Soul's arm reactively shooting out to block her and turn her slightly so she was facing the right direction. She easily made it out of the room then, pulling the door closed behind her.

"Thanks!" Soul called out through the shut door.

"My pleasure." He heard her take a deep breath. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOU DUMB CAT?"

Soul sighed and relaxed into the bath, truly enjoying the sounds of Maka ripping a new one into someone besides him.

"I want kittens." Blair's whined response was now familiar. The feline apparently had her biological clock go into overdrive the previous month and life in the apartment had been hell ever since.

"THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TRYING TO GET SOUL TO KNOCK YOU UP? ISN'T THERE A TOMCAT AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE YOU CAN GET IMPREGNATED BY?"

Soul sputtered a laugh, Maka was strong-willed and she really didn't see the point in subtlety when what she wanted was a straight-forward answer. Even knowing that she still could take him by surprise.

"Soul has such pretty silvery white hair and is such a strong weapon, he'd be excellent for breeding." Blair protested and Soul managed to both preen and wince at the same. Flattering though her comments were, they were not the way to get back into Maka's good graces.

"That's quite enough out of you cat." Maka's voice had gone deadly calm, a sure sign of a fatality or an ultimatum coming.

"You're so mean Maka! You just want to keep Soul all to yourself!"

Soul paused, soapy hands actually lifting him partially out of the bath to get closer to the door, but all he heard was the hinges of the pet carrier being opened and a soft thump as Blair was unceremoniously tossed in.

Blair could easily get out by changing into human form but it would leave a gridmark on either her face or butt—depending on which way she'd been facing—that wouldn't fade for a day.

"Maka's mean! Maka's selfish! Maka wants Sou-ooooooh!" The last taunt was smothered out by the sound of carrier being kicked into another room and the door to that room closing with a decisive snap.

Soul finished scrubbing and got out of the bath, drying off quickly and hopping to get his jeans on, he wanted to see what kind of mood Maka was in before it faded into something else.

"Stupid cat, stupid hormones, stupid kitten-meter, stupid procreation, stupid Soul-"

"The others I get, but why am I on your stupid list?" Soul rolled his eyes as Maka jumped and then cried out in pain as the knife she'd been using to chop vegetables bit into her finger.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. THAT's why." She grumbled, carrying her hand to the sink and turning on the water.

"I think that's a stupid Maka move, not a stupid Soul move." He sighed and stepped up next to her, frowning at the cut that bled freely down the drain, leaving a crimson trail as red as his eyes. "Jeez Maka, way to slice and dice yourself."

"Oh shut it." She snapped, hissing as she put her hand under water.

"I'll get the disinfectant."

"No! I mean, I'm fine! It's fine!" She paled as he still went into the bathroom, waving off her protests and ducking into the medicine cabinet to withdraw their white first aid kit.

"You cut raw meat with that knife didn't you?" He glared accusingly and popped the lid.

"… No." She fidgeted and wouldn't meet his eyes.

"You're a terrible liar." He took the brown bottle from the kit and unscrewed the top, noting her green eyes widen in terror. "Honestly Maka, it's not that bad, stop being such a sissy."

"I washed the knife AND the cutting board after prepping the meat! I'll be fine! Gangrene isn't really that bad!"

He ignored her and moved her hand from the stream of water so he could soap up his own hands, taking her injured one gently and scrubbing until suds covered it and they couldn't tell whose hand was where. For being so tall she had slender hands, long and slender, and Soul tilted his head to the side as he measured his own hands against hers. His were barely longer if at all but stronger and sturdier, masculine.

Quickly he washed the soap off and held her captive while he poured a measure of disinfectant on the cut. Maka hissed in a breath and squirmed as if to escape but he held her fast.

"Almost done, just be brave for a second longer okay?" He muttered, narrowing his eyes at the cut.

It was deep, but barely more than a scratch compared to the wounds they'd both received in battle. Maka just had a weird thing about wounds on her hands, she hated them and hated cleaning them and hated fixing them. It was a big part of the reason that she wore gloves when they battled.

_Everybody has their own quirks, at least Maka doesn't have to spend more time on her ego than time in battle, if she had to make an entrance like Black Star every time she did… anything, I'd have swapped partners a long time ago. _Soul hid a smirk and took a bandage from the kit, opening and wrapping it around Maka's now handicapped digit. "Done."

She grumbled and huffed as she flexed her finger, then retrieved the knife so she could wash it. "Hey Soul?"

"Yeah?" He flopped onto the couch.

"Thank yoooh what the hell? Go put some clothes on!" She turned and seemed to notice for the first time that he was only wearing jeans.

"Eh. Too much effort." He grinned and slid into the indent that his body had created in the couch over the years.

She threw her hands in the air and spun, facing the counter again and using her good hand to sweep the vegetables into the dutch oven, putting it on the stove and turning the heat on low.

Soul perked up as he sniffed the seared meat now simmering in broth. "Beef stew?"

"Yup. I put the beef in a peppery marinade last night so it shouldn't take too long." She unlaced her apron and hung it inside the pantry door. "I'm going to take a bath, don't let Blair out… ever."


	2. Chapter 2

Maka grabbed her pajamas from her tidy room, ignoring the plaintive mews coming from somewhere under the bed.

"I thought you two were friends now." Soul said from the couch without opening his eyes.

"Right up until she started trying to rape you."

Soul nearly fell off the couch. "What? That's not something you joke about!"

"Ah." Maka paused in the doorway to the bathroom. "I see. You can't rape the willing, right?"

"That's not what I meant!" He hollered after her.

Maka smiled faintly as she leaned against the inside of the bathroom door, it really was too fun to rile her partner up. It was his own damn fault for being so entertaining. She prayed that he'd left her some of the hot water as she turned on the bath and let it run as hot as the water heater would allow.

The sixteen-year-old meister looked into the foggy mirror as she took off her sweater-vest and unbuttoned her blouse, still thinking about the argument they'd had as they walked home. In the past few months she'd finally hit a growth spurt, more of a curve spurt really. Naturally this just had to happen during the winter months when she was wearing sweaters and her long jacket almost all the time just to keep her new curves from freezing off.

She let the shirt drop to the floor and turned a little to the side, examining her breasts from another angle. Compared to the other girls she hung out with she _was_ still built like a boy. But she had the feeling that Tsubaki, Blair, Liz and Patty were always going to be bigger-chested than her. Best to compare herself to someone normal-sized, when she did that she didn't look bad at all.

"B cups are perfectly respectable." She grumbled, lifting her arms and turning the other way. "And they are _perfectly_ symmetrical." She giggled a little at that and dropped her arms again, too much time around Kid.

"ACH!" Another one of Soul's uncool yelps made her glance back through the door. "Blair! How did you get out? What are you-? Hey, HEY!"

Without a second thought Maka threw open the bathroom door, a growl building as she saw the once again naked cat in human form and pinning the still half-naked Soul to the couch.

"Seriously?" She marched over and grabbed the cat by the hair again, knowing that in the same way with normal cats, scruffing Blair made her body release chemicals that made her relax and lose her human form. "GO. FIND. ANOTHER. SPERM. DONOR." She put a collar on the cat, what she used only when she was really fed up as it could potentially strangle her if she tried to change back.

That done she dropped the disgruntled feline back into her room and snapped the door shut again.

It suddenly occurred to her that it was colder in the room than she remembered and she shivered as she turned to see Soul staring, transfixed at her before keeling over backwards in an unusually spectacular fountain of blood.

"Um what…?" She trailed off as she looked down and saw the pale yellow lace bra she'd bought the month before instead of a blouse and sweater-vest. "Ah." She calmly returned to the bathroom before allowing herself to totally freak out.

She buried her face in her hands and felt the skin there flaming hot. After quelling the instinct to beat the shit out of him she was able to giggle at her own carelessness for storming out of the bathroom without getting anything to cover herself.

_Well at least he won't accuse me of being flat-chested again._ She thought, smiling despite her massive blush. _I'm glad we finally cleared that up._

She locked and double-checked the door before undressing completely, taking the allotted time on her heavy, multi-buckled, steel-toed boots. They were the same ones she'd had for years and the soles were peeling away at the bottom, it was time to give in and buy new ones. She heaved an annoyed sigh before finally sinking into the bath. It was amazing and she heightened the awesomeness by pouring a small amount of her magnolia-scented bath oil into the water.

She took her time, washing her hair first, then shaving, pausing only when she heard Soul revive.

"Aw man… what the hell…?" She heard him take a long hiss of a breath. "_Damnit Maka._" It was said so quietly she almost didn't hear it.

She grinned to herself. Having him regain consciousness in a pool of his own blood after seeing her bra was even more satisfying than rendering him unconscious with a Maka-chop. It would almost be worth it to replace all future Maka-chops with flashings.

Her eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth to smother her spontaneous giggles at the out-of-character thought.

"It's not funny!" Soul grumbled through the door as he stomped to his room, no doubt to put on a clean shirt.

Maka finished her bath and dried off, changing to her modest yellow pajamas. "Okay dinner should be ready soon!" She announced as she opened the door.

Soul glanced up from the newspaper section he was reading and back down quickly, but not before she saw a pink tinge color his cheeks. Maka blushed at his response and huffed in annoyance. She wouldn't feel embarrassed if he wasn't acting like such a baby about it, he saw Blair in way more scandalous clothing than a bra on an almost daily basis so there was no reason for him to treat her like she'd grown a second head.

She put rice in the rice-cooker and checked on the stew, noting that it needed more time, and flopped on to their couch with a book, curling her feet up in her familiar position. With Soul sprawled across two cushions and her feet curled their toes brushed and Soul jerked his away like he'd touched lava.

Maka felt her eyebrow twitch involuntarily in annoyance. Soul fidgeted and she could tell that while he was _looking_ at the papers he held, he wasn't actually _reading_ them. The tension in the room mounted and Maka's eyebrow twitched again.

_Annoyingannoyingannoying…_ She chanted to herself after reading the same sentence fifteen times in a row.

The rice cooker finally flicked off and Soul practically rocketed out of his seat. "I… uh, think I'll eat in my room. Later Maka!" He grabbed a shallow bowl and dished out rice and stew before all but running into his man-cave.

"You've gotta be kidding me." She muttered and served herself, then let Blair out of her room and removed the collar once Soul's door was closed.

The cat stayed in her true form but started swatting randomly at the air as soon as she was in the living room.

"What are you doing?" Maka asked, curling up once again with her bowl of stew.

"Cutting the tension in the air." Blair responded with a cat's grin. "It's ridiculous, what'd you do?" She sauntered over to trashcan, standing up on her hind paws to peek in at the pile of bloodied paper towels. "Must've been something GOOD."

"I didn't do anything!" Maka protested, scooping a spoonful of stew and blowing on it gently. "Except maybe accidentally flash him a little." She said under her breath.

Blair jumped up on the couch this time. "But I flash him all the time! Maybe he just likes _small_ chested girls." She tilted her head to the side and examined Maka's chest.

Maka rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I probably just took him off-guard since he's so used to seeing your massively saggy boobs."

"They are NOT saggy!" Blair transformed into her human form, causing Maka to nearly snarf her stew when she saw the outfit the cat had chosen to include in her transformation. A bikini top and pleather mini skirt. "Just cuz we don't all have your super perky little tits and butt doesn't-"

She was cut off by a crash from Soul's room.

Maka rolled her eyes. "Cover up! And will you please hand me the newspaper while you've got hands?" She asked, pointing at the crumpled sheets on Blair's side of the couch.

The cat complied, first hugging the pillow in what could laughably be called 'covering' herself, then taking out the classified sections as she did so. "What? It's not like you're going to use them!" In response to Maka's annoyed sigh.

Maka rolled her eyes and neatly folded and creased the newspaper so it would lay right when she opened it. "Honestly I don't know why he can't just take the music section without wrecking the whole paper."

"Cuz he knows it bothers you." Blair grinned and flipped through the pages. "Ooh! Maka, you're smart right? Could you help me write a classified?"

"I guess." The meister shrugged and flipped a page without looking up.

"I was thinking 'Sexy sex kitten seeks papa for future kitties,' what do you think?"

Maka shuddered. "Please never use 'papa' and 'sex' or any variations of the word in a sentence again. How about 'Alley cat in heat seeks same'?"

Blair tapped her chin thoughtfully, then shook her head. "I think that would get more girl responses than boy, and I'd like a boy this time."

Another crash sounded from Soul's room.

Maka ignored it. "Fine, what kind of boy are you looking for specifically? You said you wanted Soul because he was a strong weapon, are you looking for a weapon?"

"Well he's exotic too." Blair looked calculatingly at Soul's closed door. "He's got pretty hair and a sexy smile."

Maka snorted. "And he's lazy and stubborn and obsessed with being 'cool'."

"But he IS cool Maka." Blair grinned and winked. "And I think you've noticed…"

"_Regardless_, he's not fathering your kittens so that option is OFF the table." Maka tried to ignore her heated face as Blair's satisfied grin broadened.

Soul threw open the door to his room and stormed out. "Fine. I'll do it."

"Do wha-?" Maka's jaw fell open. "Have you LOST your mind?"

"Yay!" Blair leapt up, clapping her hands excitedly, pillow forgotten.

"But not here. That'd be weird and Maka would get jealous." Soul continued as if his spluttering meister wasn't sitting mere feet away. "Meet me at Chupa Cabra's in… ten minutes, I have… make myself look cool first. And if you get dressed like you're going to work you can say I'm a customer you can get paid too."

"See you there!" Blair snapped her fingers and was wearing a long fur-lined coat and thigh-high boots as she skipped out the door.

Soul turned just in time to get a rolled-up newspaper to the face. As far as abuse went it really wasn't that bad but Maka's eyes were rapidly searching for a more suitable weapon.

"Maka! Calm down!" Soul held up his hands defensively.

When she met his eyes she couldn't quite hide the stinging hurt in them. "I can't believe you Soul Eater Evans! You're just like Papa!"

"Woah there! Them's fightin words!" Soul grinned but it did nothing to alleviate the pained look in Maka's eyes. "Come on Maka, use that overlarge brain of yours." He tapped her forehead with his knuckles to emphasize his point. "How long do you think it will take Blair to get distracted by something shiny and forget what she's waiting for?"

Maka frowned. "Fifteen minutes…?"

"I was thinking five. If that." He slumped back to the couch.

"So… you're not…"

"Hell no!" Soul threw up his hands in exasperation. "You think I WANT to be a teen dad?"

Maka shuddered at the thought. "I suppose not."

"I WANTED some peace and quiet before Black Star shows up. I get another hour to relax before the king of all things unrelated to relaxing makes his entrance and I want to enjoy it."

"I'll leave you in peace then." Maka started unfolding her legs but a hand on her ankle stopped her.

"You weren't the one annoying me." He let go to casually run both hands through his hair. "Any interesting news?"

"Maybe." She reopened the paper to where she was reading. "The number of SAD cases have skyrocketed in the last week."

"Sad cases?"

"Seasonal Affective Disorder, usually people who get depressed during the winter without the sun and warmth and blah blah."

Soul twisted a finger in his ear. "Blah blah?"

"You know, a super long list of varied symptoms that are ultimately symptomatic of depression but when the onset is specific to the season change it gets designated as SAD."

"Okay. No more books for you, or hanging out with Stein." Soul rolled his eyes.

"I know multi-syllables make your brain hurt but bear with me." Maka shot back. "What I mean is that last week there were a couple of SAD cases, only mentioned as an acknowledgement that winter's really started. This week there are dozens."

"So? Maybe more kids caught it."

"You can't catch it, that's the thing, it's spreading like a virus but it's not. It's a psychological disorder." She chewed on the tip of one of her pigtails.

"So you're worried because a couple of kids are sad that they can't go play in the park?" Soul scoffed. "Cut it out, you're gonna give yourself gray hair."

"Says the guy with WHITE hair." She mumbled, more as a reflex then genuine retort, eyes still fixed on the paper.

He grinned at that and ruffled her hair, making her squeak in protest. As he went to the refrigerator to grab a drink Maka looked at him through her lowered lashes and thought about what Blair said.

In his own way she could see how Soul could be considered exotic, he had such an odd mix of features with his olive skin, silvery-white hair that stuck up no matter what he did with it, that unmistakable shark's smile and his eyes that weren't blood-shot but with genuinely red irises that glinted a little bit when he was amused like now for instance…

She looked down at the paper again, cheeks flaming at being caught.

"Soooo any particular reason you were eyeing me like Stein looking at the terminally ill?"

Maka gasped. "Soul! That's a terrible thing to say!"

"Oh come on Maka, you know he pays the nurses to keep him updated on which patients are donating their bodies for science." He swigged soda without taking his eyes off of her. "But you still haven't answered my question."

"I was just thinking about something Blair said, and I do think you'd make a good father one day." She supplied quickly, desperately trying to not look like she was _ogling_ him, it was Soul for god's sake!

He looked genuinely surprised. "You're not serious."

Maka shrugged. "I mean, I'm no judge since I grew up with a complete lack of a fatherly father figure but from what I've gathered from other people and books, yeah, you probably would be." She cupped her chin in her palm, removing herself to a more objective perspective. "You're loyal and protective-"

"Sounds more like a dog." He raised an eyebrow.

"I can start calling you Spot if you like, four letters and starts with the same letter as your name, close enough."

"By that logic you could call me Shit too. I think I'll stick with Soul, but thanks." He rolled his eyes and went back to his room, leaving her to wonder at how the conversation had gone so wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, my internet has been on the fritz so I can only jump on and upload a couple of times a week atm. Thank you so so so much for your reviews! Please tell me how I did with Black Star, he was fun to write but I want to make sure I got it right!**

**XOXO**

**Az.**

* * *

Soul let his door close fully before letting himself start laughing. He smothered it with his hand so Maka wouldn't hear but couldn't stop once he started.

_Maka's face! _He thought with an outward chuckle. Her face really was almost too expressive, it was way too fun to catch her by surprise and see what expression she'd make.

"What are you laughing about?" Black Star made an entrance that was so quiet and actually _ninja-like_ that Soul jumped. "YAHOO! The all-mighty Black Star has been so sneaky he could have assassinated you FIFTY times before you noticed!"

"Hey you managed to be silent for like fifteen seconds that time, good job." Soul congratulated, fist-bumping his friend.

"I am so silent that DARKNESS ITSELF is loud by comparison!" Black Star pumped his fist in the air. "I AM AWESOME!"

"Black Star SHUT UP!" Maka yelled from the living room.

Soul laughed again, slapping a hand over his eyes as he imagined Maka's face alight with annoyance, eyes sparkling in irritation. It was one of his favorite Maka-expressions.

"What's funny?" The would-be assassin flopped on Soul's bed, arms spread wide.

"Just Maka being… Maka." Soul shook his head and sat in his chair, spinning it to face the bed.

"Dude you got it BAD." Black Star grinned at him.

"I'm not the one who serenades his housemate every night with proclamations of grandeur like some alley cat on crack." He winced. "Sorry, too much time around Maka."

"Yeah I only understood like half of that." Black Star nodded in deep wisdom. "Tsubaki's been busy lately anyway. But the awesome presence that is Black Star does not need his ninja princess of the stars to make him seem big! I am already too big to comprehend!"

Soul rubbed his head, making the hair lie flat for two seconds before it went back to its usual state. Years ago his head would be reeling from Black Star's flipping back and forth between first and third person but he'd adjusted.

"What's she busy with?"

"Something about SAD, but she's not sad it's someone else who's sad but she still smiles when Black Heart tells her to not be sad, which is awesome because I am awesome and can always put a smile on Tsubaki's face!"

"SAD the," He frowned for a moment, "The psychological disorder?"

"That's the one." Black Star waved dismissively. "But Tsubaki is invincible from the attack of the SAD as long as Black Star is there to make her smile!" He flexed his arms for no apparent reason.

"Sure. Right, hey do you want a drink or something?"

"Black Star has no need for liquids! But tea would be nice." He waved again, dismissing Soul this time who rolled his eyes but used the excuse to slip back into the kitchen.

"Hey Maka." He breathed a sigh of relief, seeing her still at the couch. "Uh, what are you doing?"

She had a map spread out in front of her with skittles strategically placed, starting in one area and spreading out.

"I was just marking down the similarities in the reports." She absently ate a green skittle as she examined the map. "It's just like I thought, it's acting more like a virus, it's not contagious but every new case shares something in common with the others, a shared school or library or day care."

"Huh. Well you should call Tsubaki, Black Star said she's worried about it too."

She turned surprised forest green eyes up to him. "Thanks, I'll do that."

"No prob. Do we still have some black tea?"

"Yes, cabinet above the oven." She twirled a pigtail in her fingers as she frowned down at the map. "I'm still not sure what the point of origin is, I've got a few possibilities."

"Maka, call Tsubaki and talk it out with her, at least that way you can have gray hair together." Soul rummaged around the cabinet, half expecting to be on the receiving end of a Maka-chop.

"Hey Tsubaki, it's Maka." Her voice made him glance back. "Yeah he's here, hard to miss that entrance." She laughed. "It's okay, he's just not the _quiet_ kind of assassin. Anyway, the reason I was calling was that Black Star mentioned to Soul that you were looking into the SAD cases." She nodded, frowning.

Soul tipped his head slightly to the side as he watched her reflection in the kitchen window as she worried a nail. He couldn't explain why but the flash of hard white teeth behind her soft-looking lips fascinated him. Almost as fascinating as with she touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip in concentration as she listened to whatever was being said on the other line.

"I noticed that… yeah I have a map in front of me now." She spun her fingers around the end of one of her pigtails in a familiar gesture and Soul focused back on the tea, still with the imprint of her lips, teeth and tongue fresh on his mind.

_I need to get laid._ He sighed, not that he had any experience in that area but he'd heard that it helped. _Or just a heavy make-out session. _An area where his expertise also ranked somewhere around zero and zilch. _Either way if I'm thinking about **Maka **like that then I really need some action._ He snorted as his eyes drifted to her reflection again.

"Hey Soul." Her murmur was so quiet he almost didn't catch it.

"Yeah?"

"Is it all right if we stop at the hospital on the way to school?"

His eyebrows shot up in alarm. "Are you okay?"

She smiled at his concern. "Fine. I just wanted to talk to a few of these kids."

"Oh no." He shook his head vehemently as her sweet questioning eyes solidified into hard-headed stubborn Maka-chop eyes. He liked the sweet look better. "If you still want to go AFTER school that's fine, but we are not waking up earlier just because you're curious. Those kids do not need some crazy lady barging in and demanding that they spill their guts first thing in the morning."

She glared at him and he steeled himself, ready to argue.

"I guess you're right." She sighed.

"AND WE- Wait, what? Really?"

She giggled at his surprise. "Yes, and we're getting a new mission tomorrow too. I can settle for going after school."

"Well… Good." He didn't know what to do with the energy he'd gathered for a fight, feeling suddenly deflated.

"I'm going to study for tomorrow's pop quiz, you boys have fun." She stood and stretched and Soul's eyes drifted to the foot of smooth midsection that was bared when she did. It was amazing how little it took to make a belly appealing, three lines and a dip. The line that went down the middle of her stomach dipped in and looked like an arrow with the end cut off by her pants with the lines of her hips angling in. "I just know that Stein is going to give us one, with all those dropped hints in class today."

Soul swallowed and turned back as the kettle whistled, hiding the color of his face. He resolved to suggest that Tsubaki or Liz and Patti buy Maka a new pair of pajamas for her birthday the next week. Those were way too short for her.

_Downright indecent._ He gritted his teeth. _Anyone would look scandalous wearing those things. _He returned her goodnight and shook his head as she went into her room, noting the way the pants hugged her hips and the curve of her butt and the inch of exposed lower back. _INDECENT. They must be padded in the back or something, who would make something like that?_

I low whistle made him whip his head around to see Black Star leaning in his bedroom doorway, looking at Maka's closed door. "Maka has a nice ass." He nodded importantly.

Soul glared at him as he brought tea in the room, hooking the door closed behind him. "Are you insane? The girl's as skinny as a twig!"

"A twig with a really nice butt." Black Star grinned. "You seriously haven't noticed? You're like the last guy in the class to check her out, took you long enough, jeez. The awesome Black Star was aware long ago but as he does everything wisely, he wisely chose not to mention anything. For Tsubaki's sake."

"Oh really." Soul rolled his eyes. "Tsubaki has more curves than places to put them, just because Maka has a mosquito bite where normal people have asses-" He winced and broke off, expecting a book to imbed itself in his skull. "Sorry, conditioned reflex."

Black Star laughed boisterously. "Yup Maka's got you beaten GOOD."

"That's not necessarily a GOOD thing." Soul shot back.

* * *

"Tired?" Maka asked pleasantly, offering Soul a thermos of green tea on their way to school.

"Yup, thanks." He yawned again and rubbed at his eyes.

"You wouldn't be tired if Black Star had left AT A REASONABLE TIME FOR A WEEKNIGHT."

Soul winced, having seen this lecture coming a mile away. Headphones were an option but that usually made Maka madder longer, best to let her get it out of her system.

"SERIOUSLY. DO EITHER OF YOU HAVE ANY CONCEPT OF TIME?" She stomped next to him, getting huffier and huffier.

"Hey Maka."

"WHAT."

"Your panties are in a knot. You should work on that."

She froze midstep, hands balling to fists at her sides and Soul swore he heard the sound of a steam kettle going off somewhere nearby.

"Do you hear-?" Interruption in the form of a huge textbook crashed down on him.

"I SWEAR YOU ARE THE BIGGEST JERK ON THE PLANET!" She continued her stomped path towards the school, leaving Soul crumpled on the sidewalk.

"That was… definitely… the spine." He gurgled.

Maka was already at Death's door by the time Soul caught up with her. They went in together with Maka talking animatedly about the mission she hoped she'd be getting as if she hadn't nearly beaten her partner to death and left him on the sidewalk.

"Oh! And I need new boots, I was thinking of dropping by the store after school with Tsubaki."

"What's wrong with those boots?" He looked down at the heavy shit-kicker boots he associated with Maka. "I like those."

Color tinged her cheeks and she looked down at the beaten-up and scuffed shoes. "I like them too, but they've gotten past the point where I can repair them with super glue and duct tape. It would suck to go on our next mission missing one sole."

"I'm not going anywhere." He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at her curiously.

"A _shoe_ sole you dummy, I know I don't have to worry about _you_ falling apart mid-fight." She grinned and held up her foot as they walked so he could see the heavy bottom detaching.

"Ah, Soul, Maka Heya!" Death bounced over to meet them. "Are you ready for another mission?"

"Yes sir!" Maka chirped.

Soul shrugged.

"Okay! I want you to go to the hospital and get a read on some of the souls of the children there."

Maka gasped, hands flying to her mouth. "The SAD cases? Do you really think there might be a Kishin involved?"

Death tilted his head sideways, as if perplexed at the enthusiasm shown for visiting a hospital, a sentiment that Soul whole-heartedly agreed with.

"It's a possibility we can't overlook even if this is too subtle for a normal Kishin. Be particularly careful and don't leave each other's sides."

Maka nodded and followed Soul out of the death room.

"Looks like you were right." Soul admitted. "Does this mean we can ditch classes?"

Maka bit her lip thoughtfully, like she was actually considering it and Soul stared at her. Finally she shook her head.

"No I don't want to miss that quiz."

"Maka there is NO quiz today." Soul opened the door for them, closing it behind them as they walked into the too silent classroom.

Everyone was bent over identical sheets of paper on their desks.

"Maka, Soul, come get your quizzes and take your seats." Stein ordered.

Maka spun on her heel with a grin, raising both hands, one forming an '0' shape and the other a peace sign. "_Maka two, Soul zero!_" She whispered with a wink.

Soul rolled his eyes at her once again indiscernible enthusiasm, for a _quiz_ of all things.


	4. Chapter 4

**Finally! Somewhat reliable internet! It was ridiculous for awhile there, if the internet worked I had maybe thirty seconds to load up a chapter before it went out again -_- ANNOYING. Grah. Anyway, thank you guys so much for the reviews! They're awesome and I definitely check my phone like fourteen times during class to see if I have any new ones. I've got a pretty good idea which direction I'm going to take this story but keep me updated on any inconsistencies you spot in the characters, dialogue, or plot. **

**Oh! And let me know if you find anything in particular funny, when my friends read a story while I'm there and giggle at something I'm always like "What? WHAT? What made you laugh and how can I make it happen more often?" So while you're reading you can imagine a tall girl with short hair jumping up and down and freaking out every time you laugh!**

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"My name is Maka Albarn and this is Soul Evans, we're from DWMA." Maka bowed to both the young mother in the room and the little boy in the hospital bed. She tried not to look shocked at the pale and frail form of the child gazing listlessly out the window. "We'd like to talk to your son if that's okay."

"Y-yes. Landon, there's two nice people to see you." She called over to her son who didn't look away from the window.

"Hey there Landon. My name is Maka and this is Soul, we're both very pleased to meet you." Maka stepped so that she was at the foot of the boy's bed.

Soul frowned as the boy didn't respond and opened his mouth but shut it again when Maka shot him a sharp look. "Yeah." He seconded. This was when he was supposed to distract the parents so that Maka could look at the kid's soul. He sighed and turned to the tired-looking woman, walking so he was facing her and angled slightly away from the child's bed. "How'd it happen?" He leaned down casually, as if being respectful to Landon instead of trying to distract his mother.

Maka nodded approvingly, she'd written down a list of questions to keep him occupied. She slid off her gloves and put her hand over the boy's chest. He coughed faintly as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, then reopened them slowly, pulling on that strange sense that let her see souls. The child's soul was dim, which was really strange, and had a dark growth of some sort on it. The growth was red and black, and glowed more brightly than the child's own soul. Judging by that, he didn't seem like he had much longer to live.

That realization made Maka's heart freeze in her chest. As far as they knew this boy was the first to be infected, but there were dozens all together.

_We have to quarantine and remove these growths immediately._ She spun on her heel and strode out the door, ducking into the first bathroom she saw. She breathed onto the mirror and wrote while chanting. "42-42-564 Whenever you want to knock on death's door." The mirror rippled and Death bounced into sight. "We have a major problem here!" Maka said immediately.

"It's good to see you too Maka." Death greeted cheerfully.

"It's a parasite that's latching onto their souls. We have to take care of it immediately and I don't know how." Her voice cracked at the end and she looked at her toes.

"Don't worry Maka, I anticipated this and sent Stein and Kiddo your way."

Maka's head snapped up at the statement, eyes widening in shock. "You sent Kid? To a HOSPITAL?"

"Well since you say it like that maybe he wasn't the best choice." The death god scratched his head. "Oh well. They'll be there soon."

When she went out Soul was waiting for her, leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door. "So either you had to take a leak REALLY badly or..."

She glowered, not even in the mood to smack him. "This is bad Soul-" She started but noticed the many people standing around and dragged him behind a hospital curtain in an open and empty room. She stepped in close so she could whisper. "It's like a parasite or something, I don't know, I guess maybe it could be a virus in a way but in that case it looks like the black plague, it's awful and I don't know what to do-"

He caught her fingers and pressed them against her mouth, stopping her mid-panic. "Calm down Maka. Freaking out isn't going to help anybody. Now breathe with me okay?" He moved her palms to flatten over his own lungs and took a deep breath.

She mimicked him, breathing in and out, three times before he released her.

"I'm okay." She said quietly, but fisted her hands into his jacket. She dropped her head. "I just hope we can save them in time."

"Sounds pretty serious for seasonal blues."

"It's dark and feeding off his soul. If Stein and Kid don't get here fast…"

"Wait a minute, Kid's coming here? To a _hospital?_"

Maka managed a watery smile. "Heh. That's exactly what I said, with equal disbelief."

"I guess if we told him that the souls were unsymmetrical he might be able to focus on that."

"And maybe Patty can cheer the kids up a little." She sniffled and leaned her forehead against Soul's chest.

He put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. "It's okay to not know how to fix everything you fixaholic." He squeezed once and stepped back enough to see her face. She looked up, green eyes swimming with tears and he brushed them away. "C'mon-"

The curtain swishing to the side broke him off as Dr. Stein made his appearance. "See, like I said, all I have to do is find Maka's soul which is big enough as it is but at this particular moment seems to be even brighter than usual, and now we know why." He gestured at the two of them in a frozen half-embrace.

"Jeez took you guys long enough." Liz grinned from behind the paper mask she'd donned, eyes crinkling.

"Uh, took us long enough to what?" Soul asked, then looked down at the girl partially in his arms, jumping back like he'd been burned.

"Ooooh were you going to make fish faces?" Patty puckered her lips and grinned as both Soul and Maka flushed under the unexpected scrutiny.

"Patty put your mask back on! You know if you get sick then I'll get it!" Liz whined and her sister obediently snapped the mask back into place though Maka giggled weakly when she saw that the girl had drawn a smile onto her mask that looked a lot like Soul's grin. It had big sharp teeth and was as wide as the mask had room for.

Kid looked like he was in a mildly catatonic state. He was as always stylish and handsome but he only moved because Liz had a hold on his tie and was using it like a leash.

"Honestly I don't know why your father sent you with me." Stein sighed and shook his head.

"We're here to protect you while you work, like the boss said." Liz said, giving Kid an annoyed look. "He usually snaps out of it in time to save our asses in real emergencies."

"So where is this soul I'm supposed to dissect?" Stein snapped on surgical gloves, ignoring his relatively useless body guard and looking way too happy in the somber situation.

"_Delicate. Surgery._" Maka frantically corrected, making 'hush' gestures with her hands as the nurses frowned at them.

"Close enough. Lead the way."

Maka sighed and let her head droop, leading the odd group back to the boy's room. Stein sucked in a short breath when he got a look at the boy's soul.

"I can safely say that this won't be easy." He nodded to himself.

"Excuse me, Miss Albarn, Mr. Evans, who are these people?" The mother stood, looking alarmed.

"Dr. Stein is a specialist, I think he can help your son." Maka took the woman by the arm and led her to the door. "If you're willing to trust us for just a little while you can watch through the window but Dr. Stein needs to concentrate."

Reluctantly the woman looked between the extremely unusual and mildly psychotic-looking man and her son laying listlessly beneath the covers. "If… you can help…"

"We can, trust me. Dr. Stein has fixed serious wounds that both my partner and myself have had in the past. He can do this."

"I should really ask my husband first…" The woman said as she let Maka lead her outside. "He's at work but he'll be here soon."

"I'm worried that Landon may not have that long. Please trust us, we can help." Maka closed the door gently but nodded encouragingly through the window before rejoining the group. "So what did you learn from her?" She whispered to Soul as Dr. Stein bent over the bed, the boy didn't even look at him, his gaze was fixed on the window but his eyes were empty.

"The kid said he had a nightmare about the Bogeyman and the next morning he was like… this." Soul gestured at the bed.

"The Bogeyman?" Maka frowned at the boy as Dr. Stein took some kind of scalpel out of his bag. She willed herself not to look away as her whole body cringed.

"Yeah, and the only physical symptom they could find was a bunch of little cuts inside his mouth and throat, same for the others."

"Sleeping badly or too much is pretty normal for depression." She frowned.

"Are nightmares? The other kids had bad dreams within the last week too." He sighed when Maka raised an eyebrow at him. "You TOLD me to ask questions, and most of the parents know each other from the same schools and stuff."

"Quiet." Stein muttered, putting away the scalpel and the surgical gloves with a disappointed sigh and pulling on one heavy glove instead.

A hand at the base of Maka's back let her stay tall and keep her eyes on the doctor as he shocked the child with a wave of his soul's energy which made the boy start seizing and gagging violently. Maka shrank into Soul's hand and arm as the tip of something black and spidery emerged from the boy's mouth. Stein caught it with his gloved hand and carefully drew out the leech-like insect with clicking teeth and pinchers and too many legs to count. It moved fluidly like it was almost liquid and reminded Maka forcefully of Ragnarok. Stein caught it in an iron-grip and squeezed, pulling gently until the creature emerged completely from the boy's mouth.

"Jar." He called and Patty trotted up with a glass specimen jar, popping open the lid so he could drop the soda-can-sized squirming piece of darkness inside. "Okay, that's it."

Suddenly Landon looked up, saw a man with a giant screw in his head and stitches running across his face holding a jar with a creature straight from his nightmares, and screamed.

"Now THAT'S a more normal reaction to Stein." Liz grinned at the petrified child despite her slightly grayed complexion.

Maka gestured to Landon's frantic mother to come in and she threw open the door.

"MAMA!" The boy screamed, grasping his chubby hands frantically to her.

"He should be fine with rest." Stein slipped the jar into his bag and chewed on the tip on an unlit cigarette, looking like he wanted nothing more than to light up in the middle of the hospital. "Where are the others?"

"This way!" Maka stepped away from Soul's hand and felt a sudden drop somewhere around her stomach at the loss in contact.

"Interesting." Stein muttered around his cigarette.

He took Soul's hand, who raised a questioning eyebrow, then yelped as Stein shoved it onto Maka's chest, between and slightly above her breasts. Maka felt her pulse skip under Soul's hand and jumped back.

Stein squinted as though looking into a bright light. "That's pretty fun." He grinned as Maka looked around frantically for a textbook.

"Speak for yourself! You're not the one who's going to bet _brained!_" Soul held up his hands but when Maka looked at them like they were spitting cobras he jammed them into his pockets instead. "Maka that wasn't my fault!"

"Your souls flare when you touch." Stein spat his mutilated cigarette into the trash.

"Duh! We're partners!" Maka wrapped her arms around her chest and glared at her professor and weapon.

"But you haven't activated soul resonance. That's almost what it looked like, just not with violent energy." Stein strolled down the hall, letting the others follow.

"I'll show YOU _violent_ energy!" Maka stormed after, hands twitching.

"Maka don't-" Soul caught her with a hand on her shoulder and she spun, reaper-style chopping him. "Ow! Damnit woman I'm an injured party here too!"

She pushed up her sleeve, murder in her eyes. "Not injured enough!"

"Think of the children!" He backpedaled. "All those kids we have to save! And it can't be done if I have brain damage!"

"I just need your body, not your brain." Maka growled, cracking her knuckles.

Soul froze, giving her a surprised look.

"Wha-?" She stopped as well, mouth forming a silent curse. "N-Not like that! Jeez!"

"Truce?" He ventured cautiously.

She thought about it, then nodded. "Truce. Let's go." She ran to catch up to Stein, the catatonic Kid and the Thompson sisters.

Stein was being assaulted by a little girl's father as they arrived.

"What the hell were you doing in Mai's room you freak?" He yelled, grabbing Stein by the collar.

"Hey!" Maka, who was still itching for a fight, tossed herself in between the two, breaking the father's hold. "Let go of my professor!"

"Honey! Come quick!" A woman's voice called from in the room.

"Daddy!" A little girl squealed moments after.

"… Mai?" The man stumbled into the room, eyes widening as he went. "MAI!"

"Two down, twenty-something to go." Stein adjusted his screw. "You two should head on home, I'll get in touch when I have a point of origin and something for you to chop. Be careful and watch each other's backs until we get this thing."

"Okay. Thanks Dr. Stein." Maka waved and said goodbye to Kid and his girls. "Ready to go Soul?"

"Totally, this place smells like bleach and rotting." Soul wrinkled his nose and followed as they left. "You okay?"

Maka sighed as the doors swished closed behind them and a blast of cold air made her wince. She pushed her hands in the pocket of her long overcoat. "I know that I'm not even close to being strong enough to help Stein but I wish there was something I could do."

"You heard Stein, he does the legwork and we chop, sounds good to me."

"Brute force is your solution for everything." She checked her watch and gasped. "Oh man I'm supposed to meet Tsubaki in five minutes!"

"Okay, where are WE meeting her?" He looked stubbornly at her when she raised an eyebrow. "Stein said we stay together, so we stay together."

"Oh for the love of Pete. Fine." She headed towards the shopping district, picking out a store that was known for the quality of their working footwear. "Tsubaki!" She smiled at the dark-haired weapon sitting outside on a bench. "Sorry we took so long!"

"It's okay, how'd it go at the hospital?" Tsubaki's maternal personality always made Maka feel the faint ache from missing her mother. Now it was such a part of her that she'd come to expect and could anticipate it.

"Bad and good. It's a bad situation but Stein seems to have it under control. The procedure is fast and the kids recover amazingly quickly."

"That's wonderful!" Tsubaki gave her a gentle smile. "Now if I'm not mistaken we need to get you some new boots!"

Soul went into the store first, holding the door open for the girls and wandering over to the men's section as soon as they were in.

"What'd you have in mind?" Tsubaki frowned at the racks of shoes.

"I love these, my only complaint is that they're pretty low and in fights I don't have much protection on my shins and none on my knees." Maka wandered around, examining the different types of boots available.

"Are you ladies looking for something specific or just… browsing?" The store clerk asked, the slight pause and raised eyebrow clearly conveying that she expected anything in the store to be out of the price-range of the two high-school aged girls.

"Do you have any boots that are steel-toed with heavy treaded soles and at least knee-height without an additional heel?" Maka asked, examining a boot on the top rack.

The clerk blinked. "Ah… yes. What size?"

"Nine and a half."

The woman disappeared into a back room, returning shortly with two unusually long shoeboxes. "This is the closest thing we have to what you're looking for, but we only have the size nine and the size ten."

Maka sat at the bench and opened the box, eyes widening at the shoes inside. They were tall, over knee-height, with reinforced steel toes and heels. A buckle fastened at the ankle and at the top above the knee and they laced up the back of the boot instead of the front.

"Woah." Maka took off her own boots and slid on the nines first. "A little cramped at the toes…" She laced in one boot and winced as she stood. "Too cramped." She traded them for the tens, lacing one of them and wiggling her foot around. "Too loose. Do they come in half-sizes?"

"We would have to special-order them." The clerk took the nines and slid them behind the register.

"Do that." Maka held the other pair of boots, admiring them from every angle. "Oh these are going to be great."

"Did you want to order them in the black or brown?"

"Black." Soul stepped around the rack and leaned against the wall.

"Black." Maka agreed. "For Maka Albarn please."

"They should be in next week, check in Monday afternoon."

"Thanks!" Maka put her own boots back on. "Did you see them Soul? Weren't they cool?"

"Very cool." He agreed, smiling slightly at her enthusiasm. "You should make your dad get them for you for your birthday or something."

She gave him a withering glare as they left the store, wrapping scarves and putting on gloves. The sun had set and it was colder, the moon casting eerie shadows on the sidewalk.

"He'd probably make them reorder them in pink and embroider 'Papa loves his Maka' all over them. Pass." She shuddered. "Tsubaki would you like to come over for a cup of tea?"

"I should get home, Black Star gets antsy when I'm out too late after dark." Tsubaki sighed.

"We'll walk you home." Soul said, his tone telling her that she didn't have a choice in the matter. "It's too dangerous for anyone to be out at night alone, and Black Star would scalp me if anything happened to you."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, phew, finals week is over! Woo! Anyway, keep up the reviews, they're the only way I know whether or not you guys are enjoying this!**

**XOXO**

**Az.**

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Maka still seemed down when they got home and Soul frowned, trying to think of some way to distract her from her preoccupation.

_Grabbing her chest distracted her pretty well._ He stomped down that thought with a vengeance, he'd had enough unjustified violence from Maka to know that when she was actually justified she was deadly.

"Leftovers for dinner?" He asked, pulling out the stew from the night before.

"Sure, can you handle reheating them?" She looked nervously between the food and him.

"Yes I can handle it." He sighed and rolled his eyes. "A little trust goes a long way you know."

"The smell of burnt food sticks around a long time you know." She responded over her shoulder as she went into her room.

Soul glared at her, pulling off the Tupperware lid and putting the container in the microwave.

When Maka came back in the room dressed in her pajamas he grabbed two bowls. "Don't, I was just coming in to say goodnight, I'm beat." She rubbed her eyes.

"You should eat something Maka." Soul still dished out the stew into the two bowls, plopping one in front of her. "You're skinny enough as it is."

"Mrah." She grumbled.

"What was that?"

"Thanks for reheating." She managed.

"Uh huh. Eat. Now." He jabbed his spoon at the bowl.

She half-heartedly pushed her food around, taking a few partial bites. Even as Soul finished she'd barely eaten half.

"I'm just…" She started.

"Not hungry?" He cut in. "Don't care. Eat."

"How can you possibly eat after what we just saw?"

"SOUL!" The door burst open and Blair came in, stamping and pouting prettily. "You stood me up!"

"And it took you twenty four hours to realize this?" Soul gave her outfit a look, long fur-lined coat and boots, the same outfit she'd left in the day before.

"I had to improvise after you decided to not give me kittens." She stuck her tongue out at him like he'd decided not to share dessert rather than not impregnate her.

"Yeah sorry about that. Something came up." He took the spoon from Maka's limp hand and scooped a bite, holding it to her mouth.

Maka shook her head and looked away, Soul moved the spoon, she looked the other way, he moved the spoon again, she glared at him.

"The stubbornness is not cute anymore Maka." He growled, grabbing her nose and holding her fast until she gasped for air and he stuck the spoon in her mouth. "Chew. Swallow. Repeat."

"Soul!" Maka chewed, swallowed and coughed.

"Anyone else want to yell my name?" Soul asked the room, tossing his hands in the air.

"Maka's papa doesn't mind when I yell his name." Blair tapped her lip with her fingers, then snapped them. "That's what I was going to tell you! When Soul stood me up I found a substitute!"

"Oh no. No." Maka shook her head violently. "I'm gonna be sick."

"You're going to have a whole _litter _of half-siblings!"

Maka fainted.

"Oh great." Soul's arm shot out, always in-tune with his meister's movements, catching Maka before she hit the floor. "There's no way you can possibly know if you're pregnant already."

"Maybe, maybe not." Blair shrugged uncaringly.

"If there is any justice in the world you're not. You and Death Scythe would be the worst parents ever." He stood, snaking an arm under Maka's arms and knees, lifting her.

The trip to her bedroom was short and Soul lay her easily on the bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. When he went back to the main room he left the door open.

"That's why I asked you first, you'd make a much better father but you left me no choice." The cat wagged her finger at him.

"Don't make me the bad guy here Blair. Anyone would make a better father than Death Scythe, and no offense, but you are NOT the type of woman who'd be the mother of my children… that was creepy, we're not talking about this anymore." He took the dirtied bowls to the sink.

"And what is the type of woman you want to mother your babies?"

"I told you we're NOT talking about this anymore. I'm sixteen, I have no interest in having children within the next… fifteen years."

"C'mon Soul, don't be a spoil sport! Tell me." Blair's eyes glittered the way they did when she was fascinated with something.

"If I tell you will you leave me alone?" He sighed when she shrugged non-committaly and pushed a hand through his hair. "Someone responsible. Unlike you. Someone real. Unlike you. Earnest and you know, _maternal_, unlike you."

"So Maka." Blair checked her nails.

"Huh? Nothing like that crazy, stubborn, over-bearing, bossy, jealous, sma-… _moderately_-chested, girl." He peeked into Maka's room, making sure she was still unconscious. "Whatever, we are NOT talking about this anymore."

"Mm-hmm… well I'm taking a bath before my date." Blair announced as she walked to the bathroom.

She started stripping and Soul closed the bathroom door for her. He was unfazed since Blair had no sense of modesty and was unflustered as long as her immodesty was not focused on seducing him. With her taken care of and Maka out of commission Soul had nothing to do but relax. He was hesitant to go to his room before Maka regained consciousness and so gathered his music journal and sprawled on the couch.

When Blair emerged from the bath nearly an hour later she found Soul sound asleep under a pile of sheet music. She loosened the towel around her, ready to drop it as needed. With the grace of a cat she crept over the back of the couch and poised over him.

"Mm… Ma… ka…" He murmured in his sleep.

Blair froze, perking her ears up for prime blackmail material.

"S-stop… " He winced. "Chopping… me…"

Blair wilted with a sigh. Typical. She decided against taking advantage of him in his sleep and instead went to get ready for her date, singing about her own attributes until she eventually left the apartment.

Time passed in Death City. The hospital had a handful of children that slept under the eyes of their watchful and relieved parents, their breathing soft and even and color in their cheeks. But twice as many children who weren't in hospitals were woken to a faint creak of their closet doors or quiet scratching under their beds and at their windows.

With sleep still fogging their minds they could only watch numbly as a small creature with more teeth than room for them and slimy, skittery legs moved with terrifying speed towards their beds. Some went under the covers, some over. The creatures under the covers made a bump that seemed harmless until the sharp scratchy legs crawled over a pajama-clad pant leg or nightgown. Anywhere they touched bare skin they left it cold and clammy. Those on top of the covers made hissing and clicking noises as they drew near the face of their victim.

As soon as they touched the child the sleep-paralysis would break and the screaming would start. Barely after that first intake of breath the creatures would strike with lightening-speed, heading straight for their open mouths.

A scream woke Soul up. With reflexes honed from hundreds of battles and thousands of hours of training he was up and racing for Maka's room and transforming his arm into the scythe blade even as her scream cut off in a high-pitched whimpered gurgle.

The first thing he saw made his heart stutter in his chest. In the pale light filtering in through the open window he could make out Maka kneeling on her bed, fingernails buried in a _thing_ that was trying to get into her mouth. The sight terrified and enraged Soul as he lunged forward, slicing through the middle of the creature with exact precision in the dim room, neither cutting Maka's fingers or face.

The thing oozed out of Maka's mouth and her eyes widened and darkened with pain as she arched off the bed, straining, trying to tear at her shirt.

"What?" Soul stared down at her stomach, seeing something writhing under her shirt.

He tried to help but the material kept catching on the spiny thing, making Maka whimper even as she coughed out the remaining parts of the first parasite.

Not wanting to cause her more pain but desperate to do something; Soul straddled Maka's hips to keep her still, awkwardly slid his transformed arm up Maka's pajama top and flipped the blade so it faced towards himself and pulled. The scythe cut through the material easily, exposing another insect-like thing trying to worm its way into Maka's belly through her bellybutton.

Dark rivets of blood stained her sides and he could see her stomach muscles taught with the strain of making her abdomen as impenetrable as possible. Soul pierced the tip of his blade as near as possible to the perceivable 'head' of the thing, pulling up long-ways and shredding it. As the other it became flaccid, barely more substance than a liquid.

"Soul!" Maka threw herself at him and he picked her up with one arm and carried her into the living room, kicking her bedroom door closed.

Soul put her on the couch and dropped, sweeping his still bladed arm underneath and staying on the floor, scanning under all the furniture for any more of the spidery nightmarish things. That done he transformed his arm back and retrieved his blanket from his bed and the first-aid kit from the bathroom. He closed all the doors leading into the living room as Maka jumped off the couch, ripping up all the cushions before putting them back in the wrong order and sinking back down.

Soul shook out his blanket, checking front and back and put it over Maka's shoulders.

"You okay?" He tilted her face to either side, noting the trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth and her split lip.

She let him part the blanket and look at her stomach, which was worse for the wear. There were cuts radiating out from her bellybutton which looked raw and bloodied and he could already see a bruise forming that was the size of an orange.

"Damnit." Soul clenched a fist, feeling frustrated without a target for his rage.

"Thanks." Maka's voice was lower than usual and she winced, touching her throat and trying again. "For saving me."

"We watch each other's backs Maka." He ripped open a gauze pad and went to the sink, turning water on it.

"Still." She caught his hand as he sat back down. "Thanks."

"Not a problem." He felt a flare of heat as she looked at him, eyes wide and earnest. He quickly looked somewhere else. "Your hair's a mess."

While her hands flew up to her pigtails he wiped blood off of her chin. She pulled the hair ties out since one was already half-way down as he dabbed at her lip with the cloth.

He'd never spent so much time up-close and personal with Maka's mouth and he found it a little fascinating. When it wasn't pressed into a thin disapproving line it was kind of nice. She didn't have a big mouth but her lips were full and the pout that they were set in now because her injuries was even maybe a little sexy.

_What the-? Focus Soul! Your meister's been injured! _He frowned away the thought and focused back on the task at hand.

When Maka's tongue slipped over her lips in an unconscious and conditioned motion she hissed as it touched her cuts.

"Don't do that." Soul flicked her nose and glared. "We've got some chapstick, use that instead stupid."

She pouted again and the glare made it unsexy enough that it didn't distract him… much.

He found the chapstick and gave it to her along with a clean gauze pad. "You should clean off your stomach, make sure there's no serious cuts."

"Where are you going?" She flushed and looked away at the frightened edge of her own voice.

He put his hand on top of her head. "I'm going to call Stein."

She nodded, still not meeting his eyes.

"Hey." Soul caught her chin and moved her face until she finally met his eyes. "Stop hiding how you feel. You know I hate that."

Her green eyes softened and he saw the terror behind them. "J-just hurry."

He nodded and got the phone, speed-dialing Stein's laboratory number. It was past midnight but Soul was pretty sure that the good doctor would still be awake and playing with his new specimens.

"_Stein here_." The doctor sounded awake but annoyed.

"Maka was attacked." Soul said without pretense.

"_What? Did any get inside her?"_

"No. I took care of them. But I still want someone to check her."

"_Good work Soul. If none got inside her than she should be fine until the morning at least, tell her to bring the clothes she wore at the hospital and to stop by the infirmary first thing in the morning, I'll meet her there._"

"Okay." Soul hung up and went back to the couch. "He said if none got… inside you you'll be okay until morning."

Maka shuddered and stuck a big bandage over her antiseptic-slathered midsection. "God I can't imagine what those kids have been going through."

"They'll be okay now that we're on the case, right?" Soul tried to smile but couldn't quite manage it.

"Who's going to be on our case?"

"Remember what Stein and Lord Death said, we just have to watch out for each other, easy."

Maka shuddered again and pulled her knees to her chest. "I can't believe it tried to get into my MOUTH. God just thinking about it…" She broke off turning a little green. "I'm going to be sick."

Soul followed her to the bathroom, checking everywhere a creepy-crawly could hide while Maka threw up. He waited in the doorframe while she finished and brushed her teeth for nearly five minutes straight.

"Okay. Now I don't-" She broke off, exhaling and sniffing. "Oh DAMNIT. I smell GROSS. Insect breath!"

Soul leaned forward, catching her face and sniffing her lips. "You smell fine. Like peppermint." When he pulled back she looked dazed.

"Huh?"

"Peppermint. Member of the mint family. Frequent ingredient in toothpaste?" He returned her dazed look with one of confusion.

"Right. Minty." She nodded.

"You still seem off, do you want to try to sleep?"

"Eh. Uh no. No I don't think I ever want to sleep again. Ever." Maka curled up on the couch once again. "EVER."

Soul sank down next to her, feeling tired but not wanting to sleep either with the parasites still around. "Do you know what I do when I can't sleep?"

"Do I _want_ to know?" Maka raised an eyebrow.

"Ignoring that for the greater good." He said with a long-suffering sigh. "Do you want to go for a ride?"


	6. Chapter 6

**MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS! Sorry I disappeared, I left my computer at home for Christmas and could NOT remember my login info for the life of me. New chapters and new story soon!**

**Az.**

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"At first I thought you were nuts when you suggested this." Maka pulled Soul's hoodie tighter around her body. Not having been brave enough to go into her own room she'd borrowed some of his clothes.

"That's reassuring." Soul swung a leg over the bike, giving Maka a minute to adjust before kicking it to life and pulling out, picking up speed as they went down the street.

It was a short drive to get out of town and once free of the city lights Soul really cut loose and went fast, letting the chill wind bite into his clothes. Maka wrapped her arms tightly around him, burying her face into his back.

It was a perfect scenario. _Now if only it wasn't Maka._ He tried to imagine another girl hanging on to him, someone with bigger breasts that would press into him as she hung onto his manly back and trusted him not to kill them.

The fantasy wouldn't form though. Every time he tried he'd just feel Maka's hands in his jacket and Maka's legs pressed tightly to his hips and upper thighs.

_What are you thinking! This is your meister! She's too tall, too tomboyish, too nerdy, too jealous…_Even as he thought of all the reasons he shouldn't care that it was Maka clinging to him images came to mind that proved him wrong. Maka's long legs, Maka kicking serious ass in a fight with her hands gripped tightly to him in scythe-form, Maka passed out on an open book. Everything he thought he didn't like about her had a flip-side that he _did_ like.

When he pulled up to the ridge that served as his thinking place he skidded to a halt and put down the kickstand. Death City spread out beneath them, glittering lights mirroring the stars that shared the sky with the grinning moon.

"How's that for a view?" He asked over his shoulder.

Maka was looking at the city with wide eyes. The lights below reflected in her green irises and her still loose hair was windswept. She looked appealing, like a woman and not just his meister. When she moved to sit sideways on the bike Soul adjusted too so they were both using it like a small bench.

"It's beautiful." Maka let her eyes flick over the gothic architecture of the city. "Thanks for bringing me here."

"No sweat." He casually leaned back, looking from the city to the stars. He let her have a few minutes of silence before bumping her gently with his shoulder. "Talk to me Maka. What's on your mind?"

She followed his gaze up to the stars and let her head fall back completely. "Just wondering how it's all connected. I didn't have what you'd call a 'normal' childhood, but that was definitely not what I'd consider the 'Bogeyman'."

"Huh. I hadn't thought about that. That's not what my version of the Bogeyman looked like either. So?"

"So it means that the little boy saw something else." She frowned and closed her eyes. "The question is, what did he see?"

"Does it matter? We're still going to kill it."

"Mmm." Maka agreed with a short nod.

"You'll feel better when whatever this thing is has been chopped into a thousand tiny pieces and every last one of those creepy bug things has been destroyed." Soul finished with a vehemence that made Maka look at him in surprise.

"You're even more gung-ho than usual."

"The little bastards made it personal." He glanced at her and placed the hand nearest her on her stomach without applying any pressure. "How do you feel?"

She put her hand over his and smiled at him. "I'll be fine. Just a little sore."

"Good. I need your body in top form." He flushed and backtracked quickly as her eyebrows shot up. "For fighting! To fight and… well whatever."

Maka grinned in spite of her rosy blush. "Thanks Soul."

"Sure. No problem." He realized his hand was still on her belly and pulled away carefully. "So is that all that's going on in that egghead?"

She hesitated and shook her head. "I guess I'm still a little shell-shocked by the whole… Blair/dad thing."

"You know she was just being… Blair. There's no way she could know whether or not she was pregnant."

"God I hope she's not. That's disturbing on so many levels." Maka groaned. "Seriously. Does that man have no shame? She's practically my roommate!"

"Gotta say, him hooking up with Blair is way less awkward than him hooking up with your other roommate." Soul looked innocently at the sky. "But I guess Death Scythe is a good-looking enough guy…"

"_What?_" Maka stared at him. "You. You're. You're not… Are you?"

Soul grinned at her. "Hell no." He noted her expression of profound relief with amusement. "I solemnly swear that I am a devout fan of boobs and everything that comes with them."

She giggled at that. "You're ridiculous."

_I made you laugh._ He thought. _That's all that matters._

"How're combat lessons going?" Maka poked him.

"Hmm?" He realized she was talking about the extra lessons offered to weapons for human-form combat. He'd signed up so he wouldn't feel helpless when out of his weapon form. "Good. Patty and Liz still kick everyone else's ass but we keep up pretty well."

"I'm not surprised, those girls grew up the hard way, they really know how to take care of themselves."

"You have no idea. No matter what Sid or anyone else says they still fight dirty every time. I always end up with bruises."

"They're probably triggering." Maka sighed and shook her head, then caught Soul's questioning look. "Triggering. A response that's triggered based on a specific set of stimuli. Like being attacked, it makes them feel like they're back on the street, not in a safe practice area at school, and they react like they would in a street fight."

"It's sort of good in a way." Soul said slowly. "I'm learning how to street-fight and it's not like Kishin really play by the rules."

"I just hope you don't make a habit of fighting them out of your weapon form." Maka smiled at his raised eyebrow. "That's my job remember?"

"Doesn't mean I have to like it." He frowned at the sky. "I don't like only being your weapon. I don't like that the only way I can protect you is when _you_ make me do it."

"Don't be an idiot." She said with so much anger that he looked at her. "You're not just any weapon. I am a scythe-master and YOU are MY scythe. Sure I could use another weapon-"

The idea made Soul's blood boil and he clenched his fists.

"… But it would feel weird, off-balance and weighted wrong." She jumped off the bike and turned to face him. When he wouldn't meet her eyes she grabbed his hair and leaned in close so he couldn't ignore her. "You're not just a tool Soul. The only reason I've made it as far as I have is because of the strength of our partnership. I know and trust that you'll hold strong when I'm attacked, I know that your blade is stronger than anyone else's because I can use my soul's energy to strengthen it. Even our soul's compliment each other! There's no one else in the world I can soul-resonate with, I'm not like Stein. So quit your pity-party and start being proud of yourself."

"Nah." He touched her cheek with his thumb. "But I can be proud of us."

The simple comment left her gaping. After a whole diatribe he rendered her speechless with seven words.

"Ready to head back?" He swiveled at her jerky nod and when she'd readjusted he started the bike, kicking up the stand and heading back the way they'd come.

With the wind running through his hair Soul couldn't help but wish that it was Maka's fingers instead. She could be gentle when she wanted to be but she could also be strong and forceful. That dominance made Soul's heart beat fast and his breath catch. He wasn't into BDSM as far as he knew but the steel core of strength wrapped up in Maka's deceptively mild exterior did something funny to his insides.

When they were home Maka stood outside her bedroom door, hand frozen half-way to the handle. Soul could see the hesitation in her whole body as she tried to push past it. He swept her behind him and cracked open the door himself, just enough to see inside.

"Something's definitely moving in there." He opened it a little wider. "I take that back, some_things_ are moving in there." He closed the door and turned to Maka. "What do you want to do?"

He almost smiled as he watched the timid girl before him get replaced by his meister, her eyes narrowed and hardened and her back straightened.

"I want to exterminate each and every one of the little bastards." She growled.

_That's my girl._ Soul grinned, showing a significant number of sharp white teeth.

Maka pulled her school bag out of the closet and rummaged around until she pulled out two twin curved blades with side handles, like small hand-held scythes that lay along the side of her forearm. She handed one to Soul who looked at it questioningly.

"Practice blades I borrowed from Sid. I'd prefer to use you but you're not exactly a scalpel and this is small precision work."

He nodded, still a little annoyed. After all the weird emotional stuff he'd been going through lately in relation to his meister he wanted nothing more to be a weapon in her hands again. At least when they were fighting their roles were perfectly clear. "Ready?"

"Ready." She let him throw open the door and followed him in, flipping the light-switch and shutting the door behind them.

The creatures were everywhere, at least a dozen in all and Maka and Soul immediately went back-to-back, both holding the blades in identical stances. The things didn't acknowledge them immediately, but kept burrowing around until Maka opened her mouth to say something to Soul.

"I-" The instant her mouth was open three of the things sprang at her. She sliced two in half and blocked the third, dropping to dismember it when it hit the floor.

Instead of waiting to be attacked Soul went on the offensive, beheading two on Maka's desk and kneeling to catch the few that had scuttled underneath it.

"How do we make sure to get all of them?" He asked, springing to his feet again and feeling Maka's back meet his.

"I think I know." She shuddered as the nearest thing launched at her face, sliced it in two, then opened her mouth and sang a long C note.

"What the-?" Soul watched as every creature in the room stopped moving and sprang at her, whether they were close enough to actually reach her or not.

They took care of the attacking things, four in all, and Maka sang again, drawing the last one out of its hiding place so Soul could kill it.

Maka went through the entire room, keeping her bladed forearm in front of her face as she searched every hidden corner and drawer, finding only one more creature in the top of her wardrobe. That done, she closed and locked her open bedroom window.

"Stein said that he wants you to bring the clothes you wore to the hospital when you go to school tomorrow." Soul leaned casually inside the doorframe but his whole body was still tense from the fight.

Maka paused, her eyes clouding over in deep thought. Soul knew the only thing to do was to wait until she figured out whatever she was thinking about and watched her patiently.

"He must think that there's something that attracted them to me. Something I got on me at the hospital. But since I don't know if it was something from the bug itself or the host…" She scanned the room with a look of disgust. "It could be on EVERYTHING in here."

"You can borrow more of my clothes if you need to." Soul offered.

Maka smiled at that and left the room, closing it behind Soul. "Thanks but I have a spare change of clothes in the closet. It's just not what I usually wear."

"As long as it's not clubbing gear or anything." He muttered.

She laughed at that. "Oh yeah, because I go _clubbing_ all the time! I'm secretly a hard-core party girl."

That made him snort a laugh. "_Really _secretly." He paused at his bedroom door, looking at her rearranging the cushions on the couch. "You coming?"

"Where?"

"You can have the bed." He waved at his room. "I'll sleep on the floor."

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"Don't even try to argue Maka. You already were attacked when I was only a room away with the door open. If you think for a second I'm letting that happen twice in one night you're crazy." He crossed his arms stubbornly. "Now get your skinny ass in here."

She opened her mouth to argue but shut it again when he amped up his glare wattage. Instead she stomped to the bathroom. "Fine. But let me get out of these clothes in case touching the bugs attracts them. You should change too."

Soul shuddered at the idea of having bug-attraction juice on his clothes and shut his own door, stripping and pulling on a clean pair of jeans and t-shirt. The shirt was one of his favorites, a birthday present from Maka that was made of silk and crimson. He usually didn't have a good reason to wear it and it had been mostly in his drawer for the past year, so when he put it on he found it tighter than he remembered. This was not a new phenomenon, he'd grown several inches since he was fifteen and the extra combat lessons had added a few pounds of bulk to his lean frame.

He looked at the mirror hanging on the back of his door at his own reflection. He straightened out of his comfortable slouch and noted how much broader his chest and shoulders looked when he did. He was happy with his body, his skin, his hair, but the eyes and teeth were genetic quirks he could do without.

_Red eyes and sharp teeth… no wonder you're such a chick-magnet._ He rolled his eyes at his own self-deprecating joke.

A knock at the door had him reaching for the handle, giving his reflection one last look. When he opened the door Maka stood there in an off-the-shoulder sweater and jeans, holding his blanket from the living room. It took his brain a second to catch up to the whole Maka-not-in-school-uniform thing.

"I didn't know you owned jeans." He smiled at her, then remembered his reflection and what his smile looked like and turned away.

"Yup. Just one pair though." She pushed past him and tossed his blanket on the bed. "Now YOU are going to sleep on the bed and I am going to sleep on the floor."

Soul tilted his head and looked at her. She looked pretty with her ash-blond hair down, framing her stubborn face. With green eyes and a gentle mouth she didn't look scary at all, she made him look even more strange in comparison.

But the flip-side of that was that someone so normal-looking could accept him, that someone like her wanted to be around him. It brought back the warmth Maka had been making him feel for the past few years. It was an odd feeling, almost queasiness and nervousness mixed with excitement and that warmth. He hadn't told anyone else about it but he suspected it was just his weapon-soul reacting with being around his meister, maybe one day he'd ask her.

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**All I want for Christmas are some reviews!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Woo! Another update! You lucky dogs. Anyway, I've watched more episodes of Soul Eater but my sweetheart has now taken a shine to it and wants me to wait and watch episodes with him. I'll never say no to rewatching eps but to not progress further for the sake of love? Tough call. Another update soon!**

**Love,**

**Az.**

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Maka woke up on a soft bed that smelled amazing. It was a completely familiar and completely illusive smell, like the way clothes smelled after sitting around a campfire. Warm and smoky and brought so many good memories to mind. She stretched her toes and buried her face in the pillow with a few happy squeaky noises.

"Morning Maka." A smooth baritone voice that made her stomach flip also made her fall off the bed.

She stayed there for a minute, blinking and shaking the sleep-fuzzies from her brain. She remembered Soul demanding that she sleep in his room but she'd only agreed if he slept on the bed and she slept on the floor. She'd definitely fallen asleep on the floor but she had undoubtedly woken up in a bed—the soft thing that smelled good.

"Damnit Soul! You moved me!" She let him give her a hand up off of the floor.

"Yup." He gave her a self-satisfied smirk.

She wanted to hit him with something but some part of her brain—the feminine romantic that usually got squashed beneath the head-strong meister—melted a little at the thought of Soul carrying her bridal-style to his bed.

Her cheeks flamed and the urge to chop him returned.

"Breakfast is ready if you want it." Soul led her into the kitchen where he'd put out cereal and milk and two bowls.

"Mmm, cereal, a very work-intensive breakfast." She rolled her eyes as he gave her another cheeky grin.

_Stupid boy with his stupid pointy smiles._ She felt another blush creep into her cheeks

"Eat fast, I want to get you to the infirmary."

"I'm fine." She grumbled, pouring milk into her cereal.

"And you're basing that off of your vast experience with unidentifiable parasitic things?"

"Shut up."

"Tally mark." He drew an invisible line in the air. "Point for team Soul."

Maka snorted at that. "So? I'm still winning."

"Only because you started this game winning. I'll catch up in no time." He watched her, his eyes losing their humor. "Seriously, how are you feeling?"

"Like I've got a permanent case of heebie-jeebies and jitters." She made a face and put her bowl in the sink, washing it with her back to him. "But I'll be all right."

When she turned he was standing right there and she was surprised to have to look up to see his eyes. _When did he get taller than me?_ She braced herself on the sink when he reached out and caught her chin, tilting her face up. _Oh god what's he doing!_ She panicked as he narrowed his eyes and focused on her with a strange intense look.

"You still look a little rough. That lip is going to take a while to heal completely." He frowned when he saw her eyes wide and finally seemed to process the intimacy of their position. "Ah… uh, we should probably go." He stammered but didn't release her, brushing her cheek with his fingers.

"I… I'm all right. Really." She insisted but she sounded breathless. It suddenly seemed impossible to breathe and she wanted to say something to break the tension while simultaneously wanting to see what happened if she didn't.

Mostly she wanted him to keep touching her. Maybe it was what Stein had said the day before but she felt brighter when he was touching her, invincible.

A beeping noise made them both blink. Soul turned to find the clock alarm going off and let his hand drop. As soon as he broke contact Maka felt like she could breathe again but was nearly sick with the wave of overwhelming disappointment.

_Disappointment about what Maka?_ She asked herself. _What exactly did you want to happen?_

She went to the door while Soul turned off the alarm and slipped on sneakers instead of her usual boots. They were too worn and didn't protect her feet in the cold weather. She felt strangely out of character without her boots, skirt and long jacket as they were all in a double-tied plastic bag. The jeans were warmer than her usual skirt but it felt strange having fabric encasing her hips and legs and her sweater was too loose around the neck. It was some kind of scoop-neck design that felt like it was always drooping off one of her shoulders and showing the strap of her undershirt. Both had been picked out by Liz and Maka had been too tired of saying no after hours of shopping.

The walk to school was quiet and Maka's eyes stayed fixed to her sneakers, feeling the strange lightness of them. She couldn't stomp around nearly as effectively and she was sure that if she had to kick some Kishin ass it as going to hurt her toes more than their ass.

"Maka!" Tsubaki came running down the steps to meet them, Black Star hot on her trail.

"Hey Tsubaki." Maka smiled as Soul high-fived Black Star.

"Are you okay?" Tsubaki hovered over Maka, who looked confused.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" She ignored the pointed look Soul gave her which managed to itemize the reasons why she wouldn't be okay in one glare.

"We heard you were pregnant!" Tsubaki said in a hushed whisper.

"Nice going Soul!" Black Star tried to high-five Soul again who gaped at him.

"_WHAT?_" The meister and weapon stared at their friends.

"Blair was at the bar near our apartment last night, Black Star said she was toasting to pregnancy and Maka building a family…" Tsubaki trailed off, then rounded on her partner. "You DID hear that right?"

"Totally!" Black Star nodded.

"Oh god." Maka smacked her face and sighed through her fingers. "Not me pregnant. Blair pregnant."

"Which she's probably not." Soul added.

"Oh." Tsubaki heaved a sigh of relief. "Well thank goodness for that… but why was she talking about Maka building a family…?"

"She was probably talking about building my family, or at least adding to it, which she's trying to do." Maka looked faintly ill. "Let's just not talk about this ever again. Okay?"

"Adding to your-?" Tsubaki gasped and covered her mouth. "Not your dad?"

"NOT. TALKING. ABOUT." Maka adamantly stated.

Soul nodded in agreement and dragged Maka up the steps. "C'mon. Stein'll be waiting."

They barely made it into the infirmary before their next dramatic encounter.

"PATTY'S BROKEN!" Liz threw open the door, leading her sister in.

"Elizabeth. I'm fine." Patty sat down on the first available seat. "I'm just tired."

"BROKEN!" Her sister continued to wail.

"They've been like this all morning." Kid followed them in, impeccable as usual. "But Patty's behavior is a concern for me."

"In general or at the moment?" Maka tilted her head sideways, noting Patty's wilted posture. "She does seem a bit less… vibrant."

Kid nodded. "What are you two doing here?"

"Maka was attacked by the creepy depression bugs last night." Soul crossed his arms as if standing guard over his meister.

"Really?" Kid and Maka exchanged a look, then both turned to Patty. "It's certainly a possibility…" He trailed off.

"Check her mouth." Maka told him. "There should be little cuts on it and inside."

"Hmm…" Kid walked over to Patty and cupped her face. "Don't worry Patty, anything that has affected the symmetry of your mouth will be dealt with swiftly and without mercy."

"Good morning everyone." Stein rolled in on his chair, pausing at the scene before him, Liz wailing on her knees in front of her sister who stared listlessly at Kid while he pried her mouth open with Maka and Soul watching. "And a typical morning it is."

"There! Cuts! Stein! You must remedy the situation immediately!" Kid jumped up and down and pointed at Patty's mouth.

"Remedy what exactly?"

"Look at her soul." Maka whispered to him so Liz wouldn't hear.

Stein narrowed his eyes behind his glasses and exhaled sharply through his nose. "I see. All right let's get her into one of the examination rooms."

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER?" Liz followed as they left but Stein shut the door in her face.

"Liz come wait with us." Maka patted the hospital bed where she was seated.

"Butbutbut…"

"Don't worry, Patty will be back to her old self in no ti-" Maka started.

"AAAAAIIIIIIIIEEE!" A screech from the other room made all of them pause.

"See?" Soul grinned and Maka whapped him.

The door opened and Kid led Patty out, an arm comfortingly around her shoulder and Liz tackled both of them.

"ARE YOU OKAY?"

"Sis! There was a spikey spidey thingy in MY NOSE!" Patty gestured wildly to illustrate her point.

"It was not in your nose." Kid corrected.

"Wherever it was it's out now." Maka smiled encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll be okay."

A tap at the door made them look up to see Tsubaki and Black Star peering around the doorframe. Soul stood and went to see what they wanted as Stein came out of the examination room, adjusting his screw.

"Why were only me and Patty attacked?" Maka asked him.

"The phases of the soul." Stein responded. "Both of your souls have yet to fully bloom."

"Bloom like…?" Maka looked confused.

"Emotionally, physically. Both of which are usually tied heavily with, ah, sexual development." Stein looked like he was trying to be delicate but the scientist in him just wasn't built that way.

"Th-That has nothing to do with souls!" Maka flushed bright red.

She noticed that Kid and Liz were looking anywhere but at her, like they expected her to explode any minute.

"Actually Maka, it's a step in the growing process of the soul very similar to soul resonance. Since you've been able to resonate with Soul your own soul has changed size and now when you're around each other, and especially when you make contact, your souls remember that resonance. A similar affect happens when physical bonding-" He broke off, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Hasn't your father had _the talk_with you?"

Maka's eyes hardened and Stein sighed.

"Right. Sex would be a touchy topic I suppose."

Maka looked over her shoulder, gaze falling on Soul. _But the bugs didn't go after Soul…_ The implication of that thought hit her like a punch to the gut.

"Uh oh. She just turned red… now white and now she's kind of green." Liz whispered.

"Like a _mood ring!_" Patty exclaimed.

"Maka. I'm sure Soul is-" Kid started.

"Whatever. It's his life." Maka forced a smile but none of the color had returned to her face.

"Of course it's extremely rare but it's not always a matter of sexual development, some people are just born with old souls. Even more rarely those souls remember the growth they experienced in a past life." Stein shrugged. "You have a prodigy's soul. The fact that you've accomplished all that you have with such a young soul is something to be proud of."

"Okay. Well I don't want to be late for class, should I go?" She asked, still with false brightness.

"Hold on." Stein squinted at her, reading her soul. "Other than a little more chaotic and conflicted than usual you seem fine. Open your mouth and say AH." He flipped a pen-light on and shone it down her throat. "Here." He rolled over to a nearby desk and rummaged around until he found a small bag and tossed it to her. "Just some basic arnica lozenges for the abrasions; they're minimal and should heal quickly. Did you bring your clothes from yesterday?"

"Oh yeah." Maka pulled out the plastic bag with her skirt, shirt, vest and long jacket. "I hope it's okay that I left the boots at home, they're pretty heavy."

"This should be fine, I'm just going to run a few tests on them."

"Please… I don't care about the other clothes, but the jacket is important." She hesitantly handed him the bag. "Don't dissect it."

Stein laughed at that. "I'm just going to test them for a chemical I found on my own clothes after our trip to the hospital. I noticed a strange odor coming from my lab coat and found that when I left it outside the window several of those soul-leeches attached to it. I stood outside by it but they didn't attack me, they seem to only target those with souls that are not fully developed AND have the chemical attractant on them."

"Oh. You mean the hosts are producing the chemical, not the bugs themselves?" Maka frowned at her jacket, wondering if she would ever wear it again.

"Yes and no. The _bugs_ only produce the chemical from inside a host. I have been dissecting them and found a separate air sack in their stomachs and no matter what I did it wouldn't release the chemical outside of a host, it is exhaled by the infected. But interestingly enough, there was never more than one parasite per host." Stein's eyes were alight with a sparkle that only came with interesting research and even more interesting dissections.

"The boy, Landon, he coughed on me!" Maka exclaimed.

"I got coughed on a lot yesterday." Patty added. "I thought it just meant they liked me."

"My current theory is that the parasite becomes agitated when around innocent souls and releases the chemical into the host's lungs. The host in turn attempts to clear their lungs, thus marking their next victim."

"But why did you get marked then Stein?" Liz raised an eyebrow. "Somethin tells me your soul isn't too innocent."

"I suspect I intercepted a chemical expulsion targeted at Patty."

"One last thing, the bugs only attacked when my mouth was open, or when I was exhaling. Why?" Maka asked.

"Really? Interesting... I suppose because that is how they enter the body. They must be hard-wired to react to carbon dioxide and exposure to the target virgin soul..." Stein tapped a cigarette thoughtfully.

The dreaded word brought back the bitter pain in Maka's chest. The creatures hadn't attacked Soul when he spoke. "Thanks Professor Stein, that's all I wanted to know." Maka said suddenly and stood and walked stiffly to the door. "I'm good to go." She told her oblivious partner, who looked up in surprise from his banter with Black Star.

"That fast?"

She nodded and pushed past the group at the door, pausing to check her school bag for her homework.

"I haven't seen that much chaos in a soul since I told Sid he'd died and I'd made him a zombie." She heard Stein say.

She flushed angrily and covered her midsection like she could shield her soul from him.

"Maka?" Soul slouched over to her, putting him back on eye-level.

"I'm fine. I just don't want to be late for class."

"Might want this." He handed her note from Stein, excusing their tardiness. "You ran off before he could give it to you. You sure you're okay?"

"Yes! I'm fine!" She snatched the note.

"Okay. Whatever, let's go."

They left for the classroom but Maka slowed halfway there.

_If it bothers you that much, just ask him!_ She thought and immediately vetoed the idea. _I can't ask Soul if he's a virgin!_

"You're soul waves are giving me a headache Maka." Soul stepped in front of her and crossed his arms. "What aren't you telling me?"

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, grimacing when she realized she hadn't put it up that morning. "It's really not important. I'm just freaked out. Home was always safe you know?"

Soul let his arms drop with a sigh and Maka realized that she was telling the truth in a way. She thought she knew Soul but that was presumptuous and unfair.

_He doesn't belong to me. He never has._ She gathered the courage to meet his eyes and saw him giving her a concerned look.

"Maka-"

"Hi Soul!" A group of lower classman girls walked past, the one who hailed him blushing.

"Uh hi?" He gave them a partial wave, looking confused.

All three burst into giggles and started whispering.

"Girls are weird." He muttered.

Maka clenched her fists and glared at the girls while Soul's eyes weren't on her. They edged away while respectfully murmuring 'Good morning meister Maka.'

"Don't scare off people Maka, it's rude." Soul snorted a laugh.

"Well you can just go hang out with THEM!" Maka stalked off towards the classroom again.

"Girls are REALLY weird." Soul shoved his hands in his pockets and reluctantly followed his moody meister.

* * *

**Please review! I love your thoughts and excitement!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys, I started labs in school this week and it is crazy! Five hours straight of cooking . awesome and terrifying. Anyway, your reviews have been amazing! Remi: I'm totally super flattered and will continue updating for all the awesome readers like you! More to come soon.**

**XOXO**

**Az.**

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* * *

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Maka had been in a bad mood ever since the infirmary and Soul could not figure out why. He could feel her emotions through their bond, waves of confused, conflicting feelings. There were only a few that he could pick out, general depression, anger, something like jealousy and disappointment so overwhelming it made him nauseous. When he asked she'd give him the 'I'm stressed out' routine, which he bought the first time, but something was still very off about her that she wasn't telling him.

Her mood had started shifting from angry to calculating after Liz had passed her a note in class. It made him nervous when she started getting calculating. Even with the edge taken off of her anger the number of Maka-chops he'd been on the receiving end of doubled, luckily she was so unfocused that he was able to dodge the vast majority of them.

"_Finally!_ Combat lessons!" Maka skipped to the gymnasium, Soul following at a safe distance.

He normally had English when Maka had combat lessons—one of the few classes they didn't share since she'd tested out of it—but he was skipping with Stein and Lord Death's consent. They had told him to stick with his meister and that was what he was going to do.

"Okay you can hang around but you can't get involved." Maka lectured Soul for the fiftieth time. "No matter how rough they are or how much it looks like I'm in real danger, you have to remember that this is still practice."

Soul frowned, he'd seen the bruises that Maka had received from her advanced combat training, even dislocating a shoulder once. In their earlier combat lessons they'd shared the gym but the advanced placement combat course utilized the entire space and he hadn't been able to sit in on one yet.

"I'll stay out of it." He raised a hand to cut her off as she opened her mouth. "Promise."

She hesitated. "Okay…"

A scream made Soul look up, his eyes widened and he hit the floor as a body went sailing in the air he'd vacated. Maka just side-stepped and waved at Sid, who'd thrown the now unconscious student.

"Good Afternoon Professor Sid." She smiled cheerfully and pointed at Soul, then at the bleachers. When he slouchingly complied she raced off to the girl's locker room.

"Hey Soul." Tsubaki hailed him and he went to sit next to her. "Here to watch Maka."

"Yeah. Lord Death and Stein told me to shadow her for a few days."

"Ah, well Maka mentioned that you might be here today. Sorry to do this to you Soul, but Maka's right. When you see her in danger you won't be able to stay out of it." Tsubaki's right arm transformed into a length of chain and wrapped around Soul's wrist.

"Look I already promised Maka I'd stay out of it! And it's class, it can't get that dangerous can it?"

A crash above their heads made Soul stop struggling to be released from Tsubaki's chain. Black Star slid to the ground next to them, nose bleeding profusely.

"Good form Maka. Remember to fully extend your leg and put your full weight into your hips as you rotate. Anyone else want to try a roundhouse kick?" Sid asked the class of already bloodied students.

"Felt like her whole weight WAS put into that kick." Black Star groaned as he straightened. "She must be in a seriously bad mood. What'd ya do Soul?"

Soul stared at his meister, already dressed in a lightly padded jacket and pants and preparing to spar with her next reluctant victim.

"I have no idea. She's been having a pissy fit all day. Tsubaki, I saw you talking with her earlier, did she tell you what's got here so worked up?"

Tsubaki's fidgeted, her uncomfortable silence answering as clearly as if she'd shouted. She knew.  
"Uh... Well... Soul, doyouhaveagirlfriend?" Tsubaki's asked quickly and quietly, shooting a glance in Maka's direction to make sure the other girl was distracted.

"Do I what?" He frowned, reconstructing what she'd said at a more normal speed. "A girlfriend? Are you asking me out?" Soul renewed his attempts to escape from Tsubaki's chain as he felt Black Star's battle aura slamming into his side.

"No! I was just curious." She gave her meister a calm-down gesture.

"Do you honestly think that I have time to juggle school, collecting Kishin souls, training with Maka AND a girlfriend? Is that... Is that what Maka's so uber pissed about? She thinks I have a girlfriend?"

Tsubaki fidgeted uncomfortably. "Sort of, but not exactly-"

"MAKA!" Soul yelled. "Have you lost your mind!"  
Maka turned slowly on her heel and as soon as her attention was off her opponent—some meister from an older class—they seized the opportunity to attack, aiming a kick at her head. Soul felt his stomach drop but sighed in relief as Maka dropped half a heartbeat before the kick made contact, sweeping a leg back and knocking her opponent to the ground.

"She's seriously bad ass." Soul nodded approvingly at how cool his meister was. "But that still doesn't make her less crazy."

"Soul that was really dangerous! You shouldn't distract her when she's sparring." Tsubaki said urgently.

"Why not? The only thing that happened was that sissy boy over there got his ass handed to him."

"But she could decide to turn all that focus and anger at US. I don't want to die today." She cringingly looked at Maka, who was now surrounded by three boys. "Oh good."

"Why does Maka think I have a girlfriend?" Soul pushed, not to be dissuaded from his goal. For some reason the idea that Maka thought he had a girlfriend really bothered him.

"She doesn't. Not exactly anyway… She doesn't think you have a girlfriend _now_." Tsubaki stared at him, eyebrows raised, clearly trying to telepathically communicate something important.

Unfortunately Soul's telepathic ability didn't extend beyond reading Maka's soul waves and their soul resonance.

"So she's super pissed because she thinks I've had a girlfriend? That's just stupid."

"No no no, it's… I mean… gosh this is complicated!" Tsubaki slumped her shoulders with a sigh. "Just never mind, she's just having a bad day."

Soul didn't answer, choosing instead to try and read Maka himself. He closed his eyes and focused on the waves of emotion pouring off his meister, waves thrown with every punch, kick and throw. It was hard for him to read her without getting pulled in, and the hardest part was that the predominating emotion was confusion and the more he tried to delve the more he was disoriented and confused just from being in contact with her.

He opened his eyes with an annoyed snort. "She's too chaotic to read."

"She's too chaotic to focus on anything at all. It's dangerous for everyone when Maka can't focus." Tsubaki responded and Soul looked up sharply, not realizing he'd spoken aloud.

A shout made them look back to Maka, she was throwing someone twice her size across the gym. Soul recognized the battle-lust in her eyes and knew she was beyond the level of control needed to spar safely. She was fighting for real.

"Tsubaki! Let me go!" Soul knew he had to stop Maka before she got out of control or someone would really get hurt and she would never forgive herself.

"O-okay." The girl answered meekly, watching Maka with a wide-eyed expression. Her arm transformed back and Soul vaulted the bleachers. "Sid! I have to get her out of here."

"What's going on with her? She's usually so self-contained." The formerly alive teacher asked.

"She needs to let off some steam and I hate to break it to you but her steam is a little too much for your students to handle." Soul meaningfully nodded at the pile of unconscious or semi-conscious students. "Is the smaller gym open?"

They both looked across the room to a single door that opened into the portion of the gymnasium reserved for boxing, a room that had barely enough room for a ring, two punching bags and a speed bag.

"I'll unlock it, can you get Maka to calm down once she's inside?"

"I sure hope so."

"I'm trusting you Soul Eater, because that's the kind of man I was."

Soul waited until Sid was across the room, keys off his belt, before turning his full attention back to his meister. Black Star had taken it upon himself to occupy Maka and give them the chance to come up with a plan.

Black Star's specialty was martial arts but Maka was countering and meeting him blow-for-blow. She was faster than Soul gave her credit for, and nimble. When Black Star aimed a kick at her head she blocked with her forearm and slammed a palm flat into his solar-plexus. He twisted at the last second and drove an elbow towards her exposed back. She kept her momentum, using it to transition into a dive-roll.

_She's seriously dangerously awesome._ Soul took a deep breath as Sid swung the door to the small gym open and waited for an opening. Maka side-stepped to stay facing Black Star and presented her unprotected back to her weapon. _There!_

He ran in, diving at the last second and catching her around the knees so they both tumbled to the ground. Maka recovered first, kipping up to her feet before Soul could react. She made to charge him and he rolled out of the way, luring her to the open door to the spare room.

"Maka!" He shouted. "Snap out of it!"

She didn't answer other than to narrow her eyes at him like a viper preparing to strike. It was surprisingly terrifying and he backed up, letting her advance until they were through the doorway. Sid slammed the door shut and locked it behind them, plunging them into darkness.

"Okay. Now can we just take a minute to calm-" A wooshing sound next to his head made his instincts take over and duck, feeling some appendage of Maka's graze his hair. "Damnit Maka!"

No answer. It was eerie in the dark with someone as dangerous as Maka trying to attack every time he opened his mouth. He stumbled backwards until he accidentally found a hiding place underneath the boxing ring by backing into it. When he was safely tucked out of harms way he tried again.

"Maka. I'm not going to fight you and it's super uncool to be hiding from my own meister so do you think you can calm down and we can talk?"

"I'm fine. I'm just a little... upset." A noise like someone cracking their knuckles made Soul wince.

"About what?" He tried to get his eyes to adjust but it was useless, the only light came from the outline of the door and from that he could see vague shapes only partially.

The silence lasted so long that he wasn't sure if she was still there until finally she answered.

"Do you know why the bugs didn't attack you Soul?"

"No."

"Because your soul didn't attract them, it wasn't young, naive and _inexperienced_ the way mine apparently is."

"Maka..." Soul eased out of his hiding place, fairly certain she wouldn't try to kill him now that they were talking. "So what if my soul is more beaten up than yours? You honestly want more sins on your soul than-" He broke off, putting the clues together.

Clue 1: Maka was upset because she thought he _had_ a girlfriend in the past.

Clue 2: Maka thought that Soul's soul was more 'experienced' than hers, less naive.

"Maka I swear to you... God this is so not cool... I swear that there is no reason like _that..._" He sighed and reached out, trying to find her in the dark.

A hand on his shoulder made him turn, realizing he'd been reaching in the wrong direction.

"I'm sorry I let my temper get the better of me." She mumbled in the dark.

Soul found her and pulled her into a hug. "Look, I promise that the bugs left me alone for some other reason than that. Okay?"

"Stein said that in extremely rare cases people have old souls." She pressed her face into the curve of his shoulder. "I guess I figured you were too young and reckless to have an old soul."

"Your confidence is touching." He replied dryly and she managed to giggle. "Why did it bother you so much that you lost control like that?"

She stiffened in his arms and he regretted asking the question. "I... I guess it's stupid but... I guess I thought you would have told me." He felt her blush at that statement. "Wow that sounds really stupid when I say it out loud."

He laughed and on impulse pressed his lips to her forehead. "You know, for someone so smart you can be really dumb."

A sharp pain on his shin where her boot made contact made him gasp and glare uselessly in her direction. "Not cool."

"Pssh. Like I have to worry about being cool. I'm a flat-chested book-worm remember?"

Soul cleared his throat as he felt her body pressed against his in the hug that suddenly seemed less innocent and platonic than it had the moment before. "Not _entirely_ flat-chested anymore."

Her sharp intake of breath made him steel himself in preparation for a Maka-chop to end all Maka-chops. But as always, she was full of surprises. "Oh really?" He felt her eyes on his face, an angle that curved her back slightly and pressed her not ample but certainly unmistakable curves against his own solid chest.

"Uh… we should really go let Sid know you've calmed down and stuff. You made a pretty significant mess out there." Soul hurriedly backed away, dropping his arms and trying to wipe the feeling of Maka's body off of his chest so he wouldn't embarrass himself when they returned to the main gym.

Maka sighed and made a vague noise of assent, walking to the door and knocking three times.

"I'm okay! You can let us out now!" She shouted.

No one answered.

"Hey!" She pounded on the door this time. After a pause and still no answer she asked; "Soul…?"

"Yeah?"

"How much damage exactly did I do?"

"Fair amount."

"Meaning…?"

"Meaning that the only people who'd probably let you out right now are inside this room."

"Shit."


	9. Chapter 9

Maka swore colorfully as she poked herself in the eye with her mascara wand. It wasn't the first time and she suspected that the eyelash curler was originally some kind of medieval torture device. The only part about makeup that she liked was the flavored cherry lip-gloss and there was a warning on the label not to eat it.

She sighed and looked at herself in the mirror. She and Soul had played fourteen and a half games of 20 questions before Tsubaki finally let them out of the small gym. She'd barely had time to run home and get ready for her date.

She didn't look half bad in the red dress she rarely had an excuse to wear, it really showed off her legs too with the borrowed pair of heels. The only pair of sexyish shoes she owned were sandals and with the light snowfall she'd asked Blair if she had any other alternatives. The amount of shoes that the cat had hidden around the apartment still boggled Maka's mind. She'd picked a pair of plain black pumps and even put on pair of panty-hose she didn't even know she owned.

With her makeup done and hair brushed out so it fell straight and long well past her shoulders, she wrapped a crimson silk scarf around her neck and slipped on her spare jacket, a charcoal gray double-breasted coat that her father had given her and that she'd managed to avoid up until this winter. With her regular coat in Stein's tender care she'd had no choice but to use another.

She took a deep breath and opened her bedroom door.

"Maka have you seen…" Soul turned from where he was rummaging in the kitchen cabinets and trailed off, eyes widening. "Uh… ah… are you… going somewhere?"

"Yeah." Maka watched Soul as his tongue flicked his lips, widened eyes trailing over her.

"Ah… I don't think that's a good idea. You shouldn't be unprotected with the bug things around." He gained confidence in his lecture as he went but his eyes kept making regular sweeps of her outfit, paying particular attention to her shoes.

"I won't be unprotected." She murmured, flushing under the scrutiny.

"How-" A knock at the door interrupted Soul and he strode to it, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Hello Soul, is Maka ready?" Death the Kid stood in the doorway, immaculately handsome as ever, with a bunch of roses in one hand. "Ah Maka! You look spectacularly symmetrical." He swept past an open-mouthed Soul, gracefully sweeping Maka's hand to his lips and kissing it lightly.

Maka accepted the roses when Kid freed her hand and followed him to the door, passing the bouquet to Soul as she went.

"Put those in some water for me will you please?" She paused in the doorway, remembering what Liz had told her to say. "Don't wait up for me."

Soul continued to stare at his meister as she closed the door behind her.

She and Kid made it two blocks before both dissolving into helpless laughter.

"Did you see his face?" Kid managed to gasp after a few moments of uncharacteristic mirth.

"We certainly caught him off guard." Maka giggled. "Hey, thanks for doing this for me."

"My dear Maka. You and Soul have perfectly symmetrical souls, I will do any and all in my power to preserve that symmetry."

Maka grinned at her feet, blushing slightly at the thought.

"_We agree!_" One of the two pistols in his shoulder-holster chirped up before they both transformed.

Both weapons linked an arm through Kid's arms and Liz pulled Maka into their chain.

"How're you holding up?" Liz tugged concernedly on the girl's scarf.

Maka sighed and watched her feet, not used to wearing heels and determined not to make a fool out of herself.

It had hit her shortly after her talk with Stein, the fact that Soul _might_ have been involved with someone else at _some point_ really bothered her. More than it should have. Liz and Patty went on dates and Kid shrugged it off. But Maka couldn't shrug it off, and the images of Soul with another girl made her feel physically ill. She realized that she might have had a bit of a romantic interest in her partner. Then she realized that it was more than a bit and that the only reason she had fought so long against the possibility was because of her stupid disgusting father.

She'd been so confused and frustrated she'd somehow lost control and ended up fighting Soul. After that she'd decided to see if he would make a move by making what would normally have been a platonic hug a little more racy. It took all of her courage to do it, to press into his body in the pitch dark of the small gym and he'd responded by jumping away. Not a very encouraging response.

"I'm okay." She ran a hand through her hair. "I'm just not sure if this is the best way to… you know."

"See if Soul is crushing on you? Trust me, he is, we just have to get him to realize it." Liz winked at her friend with a cheeky grin. "You two were made for each other."

"Perfectly symmetrical." Kid chipped in.

"Thanks guys." Maka smiled sheepishly. "So what are we going to do for a few hours?"

"There's an exhibit at the museum of modern art that Kid wants to go to." Liz sighed.

"Jesús Soto." Kid sighed and looked mildly affronted at the same time. "His work is either beautiful or atrociously hideous."

"We pretty much have to take him in with his eyes closed until we find one of his symmetrically-focused pieces." Liz explained.

"He has lots of dangly things that make shapes!" Patty added.

"Okay, sounds… interesting." Maka smiled at the odd trio.

They hailed a taxi, Patty and Liz transforming so they could all fit. Once inside Kid turned to face Maka, giving her a serious look.

"What's up Kid?"

"Why haven't you and Soul addressed this before? Surely you both know your souls are symmetrical or you wouldn't be able to resonate."

Maka shrugged. "I guess we just never had a reason to change our relationship." She hesitated before continuing. "And… The male figure in my life made me a little jaded when it comes to romance."

"Ah, Death Scythe Spirit. I can see why such a father figure would make it hard to trust men."

"Yeah. It took years of living with Soul to even begin to trust a male." She excluded the years of therapy that had been provided by the DWMA. Anyone who disrespected counseling within earshot of Maka received a debilitating Maka-chop. "I just… I think you guys are wrong this time. I don't think Soul sees me that way." She voiced the insecurity that had been eating at her all day.

To her surprise Kid just laughed. He started out chuckling but ended up holding his sides, tears in his eyes as his weapons echoed his mirth.

"What?" Maka glared at him. "It's not THAT funny guys!"

"It really is!" Kid caught his breath and leaned back in his seat, turning back to look at her again. "The two of you are just… ridiculous!"

Maka huffed in annoyance and threw open the car door as they pulled up to the museum, stepping out and barely remembering in time that she was wearing heels. She turned, rummaging in her coat pocket for her wallet to pay the cab driver, only to find that Kid had already done so.

"You didn't have to… I was planning on going dutch on everything." Maka protested as Kid guided her up the museum steps with a hand at her back.

"Not to sound like a spoiled brat but your dad works for my dad and I can afford to spoil you." Kid smiled at her, somehow managing to not seem condescending.

Patty and Liz transformed again and Liz leaned down to Maka's ear. "He really likes spending money on pretty, symmetrical girls."

"I'm not pretty!" Maka protested.

All three of her companions stopped and stared at her. She wasn't fishing for compliments and she didn't even seem bothered by the idea, it was just a fact about herself that she'd accepted. After years of being told by Soul that she was bookwormy and flat-chested she'd come to terms with the idea that she just might not be attractive to the opposite sex.

Patty clothes-lined a valet who was rushing back to the curb, swinging him around to face Maka.

"Hey do you think she's pretty?" Liz asked him as if this were completely normal.

"What?"

"Do. You. Think. My. Friend. Is. Pretty?"

"Yes!" He met Maka's widened eyes and his cheeks tinged pink. He managed to free himself from Patty's grip and ran down the rest of the stairs.

"Oh come on guys, any guy you threaten is going to say yes." Maka rolled her eyes, her cheeks betraying her cavalier attitude by flaming.

"Hey!" Patty yelled at an elderly gentleman making his way down the stairs after the valet. "Do you want to do the horizontal mambo with my-!" Maka's hand clapped over Patty's mouth and she dragged her by her head up the rest of the stairs and through the doors.

"Okay! Okay I get it!" Maka's face was so red it looked like someone had splashed her with beet juice.

Kid smiled slightly, used to the ludicrous but effective methods his weapons used to prove a point. He'd do whatever necessary to protect the perfect symmetry of Maka and Soul's partnership, even if that meant playing the bad guy.

* * *

Soul felt a rumbling building in his chest and put his hand over it, wondering for a moment what the sensation was.

_I'm not hungry, why-?_ It struck him suddenly that he was growling, a deep barely human sound that emanated from within his chest.

He'd been thinking about _her _again.

Maka.

On a date.

With Kid.

Not that it really mattered who she went on the date with, what bothered him was that she was on a date at all. He hated the fact that she'd decided to go on a freaking date for the first time since he'd known her when he was supposed to be there to protect her.

_How am I supposed to protect her if she's on a date? If she's making out?_ He shook off that thought in disgust as the growl returned with a vengeance. _Who'd want to kiss that stupid tomboy bookworm anyway?_ He thought even as his mind traitorously traced the long line of her legs, imprinted in his mind. It was funny how he could see them everyday but as soon as she put on a pair of silly heels they became something… sexy.

He unconsciously reached to the coffee table, where the bouquet of roses had been carelessly tossed and crushed one in his hand, ignoring the sharp sting of a thorn that pricked his palm. the destroyed blossom joined several others in similar states of disarray on the floor. After a few more fruitless minutes of irritated distraction he turned off the TV and stamped into Maka's dark bedroom. If she was going to go on a date then he was going to read her journal, he'd read her stupid poems and then make fun of her with them later.

_You're being spiteful. This will hurt her._ A small voice whispered in the back of his mind.

_It's not like I haven't read her poetry before. _He thought back defensively. _And I've never mocked her with it. I just like knowing that I can if I want to._

He paused for a moment when the light flicked on in Maka's room and he saw that she had cleaned and straightened the entire thing, lining the windows with duct tape and locking everything up tight. The bookshelf next to her desk had a shelf full of journals and photo albums, she didn't hide her diaries like most girls and a stab of guilt raced through him. She didn't hide them because she trusted him.

He sighed and pulled out her desk chair, flopping down and carefully selecting the journal at the far end, the most recent, and flipping open halfway. He found the pages blank and thumbed towards the front until he found the loopy spiky handwriting of his meister. As soon as he found her most recent poem, only half-finished, he started reading.

_Taste me. Drink my soul._

_ Show me all the things that I shouldn't know, _

_when there's a full moon on the rise._

_I had everything, _

_opportunities for eternity and I could belong to the night._

_Your eyes, your eyes, I can see in your eyes;_

_You make me want to die._

_I'll never be good enough._

_You make me want to die,_

_And everything you love, _

_Is caught up in the light_

_Every time I look inside your eyes_

_I'm running in the light._

Soul reread the poem, feeling the strange sensation in the pit of his stomach that he so often associated with his meister. So many of her words felt like they echoed his thoughts, like she had been resonating with his soul when she wrote the poem.

He had a sudden inexplicable urge to finish it, to finish Maka's work.

Carelessly he tore a page from her spiral school notebook and copied the poem, shelving her journal and leaving the room, his previous anger forgotten. He already knew how he needed to finish it, with music. He'd make Maka's poem sing.

* * *

**Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that the poem is actually a song by The Pretty Reckless called "Make Me Wanna Die" and I definitely do not own it, nor do I own Soul Eater sadly. Anyway, more updates soon, I'm so excited that I finally have a 10 reviews/chapter ratio! Keep up the good work everybody ^_^**

**XOXO**

**Azure.**


	10. Chapter 10

**If anyone is interested, the idea for Soul's singing voice is from my sweetheart (no not his, he sounds like fourteen cats in a blender) who left a Breaking Benjamin CD in my car. I love the acoustic version of The Diary of Jane and that's the inspiration behind my description of Soul's voice. So if you want to check it out, go for it and make sure it's the ACOUSTIC version!**

**Bed Knobs and Llamas- Sorry about the wisdom teeth! I've been there and it totally sucked. But you're pretty sharp for being under the influence! Usually I aim for 3,000 words in a chapter and the last one fell a little short of that. This one will too but I make up for it in fluffiness!**

**Enjoy everybody!**

**XOXO**

**Az.**

* * *

Maka quietly turned the key to her and Soul's apartment, waving to Kid who had waited at the end of the hall to make sure she got in safely. He waved back and turned, leaving her.

It had been a fun night, lots of art and silliness from the Thompson sisters and Kid. They kept her amused and Kid had only collapsed once when the curator told them they couldn't fix the abstract bronze sculpture in the middle of the courtyard.

Maka slipped off her shoes and crept into the apartment in her stockinged feet, blinking in surprise when she saw the apartment was dark and Soul wasn't in any of the shared spaces. She was about to call his name when she realized there was music playing, a sultry guitar tune that made her want to sway. She took a few steps closer to Soul's room but stopped when she realized he was singing.

He _never_ sang, at least, not that she'd heard. And though the words were strangely familiar, his voice was so hypnotic she couldn't place them. It was nice, smooth and thrummed some chord in her that made her start swaying in earnest to his bourbon-flavored voice.

_"… everything you love, is caught up in the light. Every time I look inside your eyes… you make me wanna die…"_

She stopped swaying abruptly, recognizing her poem, the one she'd started earlier that day. She was torn between being angry with him for reading it and being stunned that he'd taken the time to give it a melody and turn it into a song, a beautiful song.

"_I would lie for you my love, my love… I would steal for you my love, my love… and I would **die** for you my love, my love…_"

She hugged herself, rubbing away goosebumps that marched up her arms. He hadn't only turned it into a song, he'd finished it. She had tried to finish it herself but just couldn't find the words. She realized why now. The poem had been an embodiment of her feelings and conflicted emotions regarding Soul, it would never have been completed without his response to those feelings.

She stood in the hallway, caught between her desire to run towards and away from her partner. The weight of the moment felt suffocating to her, she recognized that it was crucial and whatever she decided to do would define their relationship.

_Do I keep things the way they are or do I change them?_ She asked herself, unconsciously shaking in terror at the magnitude of the decision she was about to make.

She forced herself to take a step forward, then another, the confident meister warring with the insecure girl; one part of her telling her to ease the longing she was sure both she and her weapon felt and the other part telling her to run back to her room and keep things the way they were.

_Soul is not Papa. Soul is Soul._ She chanted to herself over and over. _Soul is awesome and exotic and…_ _And you're a plain, normal girl._ She stopped a step away from the door. Why would a guy like Soul, a music prodigy and powerful weapon, be interested in an ordinary boring girl like her?

All of the insecurities Maka had been fighting found the hesitation in her and surged, drowning her courage.

"_You make me want to die. I'll never be good enough…_" Soul sang, and for a moment she felt that he was mocking her with her own words but the feeling he put into her poem and his song was genuine. It was a true reflection of how he felt.

_Soul doesn't think he's good enough?_ She stared through the half-open door to see her weapon bowed over his guitar.

His room was dark except for the silvered light that slanted through the windows from the street lamp. He didn't need any sheet music, he knew the lyrics and melody by heart and she stepped silently into the room.

Wordlessly she crossed to him and put her hand gently on his shoulder, making his shoulders slump as he looked over at his meister, unsurprised to see her. He sighed and put his guitar down, eyes shuttering before she could identify the emotions behind them.

"How was your date?" He asked blandly, turning on a lamp and standing to face her.

She blinked, momentarily taken off-guard. "Oh… Silly. It wasn't a real date anyway, Kid's not my type."

"No?" Soul frowned. "Why not?"

_Because I'm in love with you dumbass._ Her eyes widened at her own thoughts and she bit her lip. "I-I dunno…"

Soul gave her a long, level look, eyes unreadable. "Jeez Maka. If Kid's not your type then who the hell is?" His voice was harsh in the silence and Maka stiffened.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She shot back.

"Kid's like, perfectly symmetrical and crap AND he's a reaper! You're not gonna find a better guy out there."

"Maybe I don't want a perfectly symmetrical guy! And he's not symmetrical he's got the stripes that make him unsymmetrical!"

(Unbeknownst to either teen, Kid's symmetry senses kicked in and he fainted just when Maka said this.)

She was babbling, she knew it, but this wasn't going the way she'd expected at all. Angry tears were welling up in her eyes and she couldn't do anything about them, making her even more frustrated.

"Don't cry." Soul's voice wasn't quite concerned, but he'd lost most of the angry edge. "Seriously, it's super annoying when girl's cry during a fight. It's totally cheating."

"W-Why the hell shouldn't I cry?" She rubbed at her eyes, then growled in frustration when she saw black streaks on her hands from her makeup. "Damnit!"

Soul sighed and rolled his eyes but grabbed her a tissue from his desk and handed it to her. She wiped under her eyes and blew her nose, clearing most of the tears and she threw away the tissue.

"Anyway." Soul continued when she was done. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does." Maka whispered, still-misty eyes meeting his. "It matters to me."

They stood in awkward silence and Maka looked down at his guitar, fingers tracing the strings. She unconsciously touched some of the chords he'd written for her poem. "I liked the song." She murmured.

"Oh. You heard that?" Soul swallowed hard, not sure how to respond, and pushed a hand through his thick hair. "It just… needed to be finished I guess."

"Thank you." She turned to look at him. "You finished it beautifully."

"Do you… want to hear the whole thing?" He asked hesitantly, smirking when she nodded exuberantly. He sat back on chair and caressed the neck of the guitar, lovingly running his fingers along the strings.

Maka was suddenly jealous of the instrument and had to look away, a blush rising as thoughts of his calloused fingers dominated her mind.

"Here." He flipped a sheet of music around so she could see the finished lyrics. "Sing with me."

Her jaw dropped and he smirked again, playing the first few chords so she could get a sense of the music. She carefully set down her shoes and hesitantly they began to sing. At first Maka blushed, remembering what she'd been thinking about when she wrote the first line; "_Taste me, drink my soul." _Then she became lost in the music, her sweeter voice twining with Soul's rich baritone as naturally as if they'd rehearsed the song daily.

As they sang Maka's eyes closed, opening only when the part that she'd written finished and she had to read what Soul had written. She found that his eyes were on her, hungry eyes with a longing that made her falter. Soul stopped when she stumbled on the words and put down the guitar, standing so they were nearly touching and tentatively brushed her cheek with his fingers. The last words he'd sung hanging heavily in the air between them.

"_I would die for you my love._"

Maka's mind went blank as she looked up at him, terrified by the desperate need she felt to be near him. She said the first thing that popped into her mind, the first words of her poem that had made her blush because they were what she wanted more than anything.

"Taste me…" She whispered, heart racing.

Soul's eyes widened in shock and she thought for a second that she'd misread the situation and said the wrong thing before his expression relaxed into an easy smile that seemed to ease years of tension out of his face.

_Drink my soul._ She thought hazily, eyes drifting half-way closed and lips parting as he cupped her jaw and leaned over her.

"HEY SOUL AND MAKA GET DOWN HERE!" A voice tore through the open window and into the room.

Neither teen moved for a moment until Soul's hand on her jaw moved back an inch and clenched in a fist so tight his knuckles were white.

"No…" Maka's eyes opened and she stared at her partner, her incapacitating longing rendering her paralyzed.

His expression opened in surprise at her pleading face before he let a slow smile curve his lips and she saw her aching desire mirrored in his eyes. Soul brushed her hair back and curved his body around hers so his lips touched her ear and her forehead cradled in the curve of his shoulder.

"I'm finishing this later Maka." He murmured and she shivered. "I'll finally taste you before the night's over." He added so quietly she almost didn't catch it as he pulled away and turned to the window.

Maka stayed frozen where she was as Soul leaned out the window and started yelling at Black Star who'd wrapped himself around the nearest streetlamp like some kind of blue-haired monkey. They kept at it for a few minutes before Soul turned back around, to find Maka in exactly the same position he'd left her in.

"Maka?" He tipped her face back. "We gotta go, Stein's had some kind of break-through or something and it's time for us to chop."

"But…" For the first time ever, Maka wanted to skip out on her duties as a weapon's meister. "I… Don't…" She frowned at her frustratingly clouded thinking. She couldn't tell Soul that she didn't want to go, that wasn't the kind of person she was. "… Have the right outfit on." She finished lamely.

Soul rolled his eyes. "Go change then you idiot."

She glared at him and stormed out of the room, scooping up her shoes on the way. She dropped her heels again in the doorway to her room and shoved the door carelessly behind her, not noticing when the shoes kept it from closing all the way.

She unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor, kicking it away and stripping off the pantyhose with equal disregard. She was just buttoning up her usual shirt when a soft knock at the door made her turn.

A blush stained her cheeks when she saw the door partially opened and her partner leaning outside, one crimson eye betraying his casual stance by sneaking glances at her long bare legs.

"J-just a minute." She ducked into her walk-in closet and yanked on a skirt, zipping up the side as she emerged and opened the door the rest of the way. "What's up?"

He snuck another look at her legs and swallowed hard. "Yeah I'm going to be happy to see those things covered up."

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

Maka frowned and focused for a moment on Soul's soul, initiating the barest trace of soul resonance with him, just enough to catch the one word that his soul was projecting and consuming her with.

_MINE._

She broke contact, still feeling wisps of contact with his soul all around her. The possessiveness surrounded her skin like fog, leaving no part of her unclaimed and she had to focus hard to get her mind back to the present.

Soul looked away and pulled a familiarly-shaped box from behind his back, it hadn't been very well disguised since it was twice as long as he was wide but she'd been so distracted by his soul's wavelength she didn't notice.

"I had Black Star and Tsubaki pick these up, I know it's a few days until your birthday but I thought you should have your present early." He placed the box on her bed.

It wasn't wrapped, but she would have known what it was even if it had been. The box was distinctive and could only have one thing in it.

"Soul… how did you…" Maka flipped the top of the box to reveal the high black boots she'd ordered.

"They had your size at another location. The only reason it was going to take so long to get to you was the stupid mail service so I called and got those. I don't want you fighting in sneakers." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Happy birthday Maka."

Maka walked to her dresser as if in a daze and pulled out a pair of over-the-knee socks, putting them on and sitting on her bed so she could lovingly remove and pull on the new boots. They had already been laced in the back—she suspected Tsubaki had something to do with that—so she only had to tie them and adjust the clasps.

When they were on she stood and looked at her reflection in the mirror, unused to seeing the long smooth expanse of leather encasing her legs to nearly mid-thigh.

"Soul they're perfect." She breathed, twisting in a half-circle to see the laces running from her heel to under the top clasps. She froze suddenly, remembering the price tag that had been originally attached to them. She'd been prepared to spend the amount because she knew the quality of the brand and that they'd last for years. "But they're too expensi-!"

He shrugged again, holding up a hand to cut her off. "You deserve to be spoiled on your birthday."

Without warning, Maka threw her arms around Soul's neck. "I don't know what to say!"

"You could start with-" Soul started, his token smirk falling as he saw his meister's blushing face suddenly in front of his, eyes half-lidded and intentions clear from her lips close enough that he could feel the warmth of her breath against his mouth. "… that."

He closed his eyes and slid one arm around her, the other hand tracing fingers around her slender neck.

"WHAT THE HECK IS TAKING YOU TWO SO FREAKING LONG?" Black Star's voice echoed in from the hallway.

For a moment Soul's grip on Maka tightened before he let her go with a growl and her head drooped with a similarly frustrated sound.

"I'm going to kill him." Soul pressed a kiss to the top of Maka's bowed head.

"Yes. Kill and dismember. Then Maka-chop all the little tiny pieces." She looked up and felt her own battle aura pouring off her in waves.

"You can be hella scary you know that?" Soul grinned.

"Good. Let's go." Maka threw open her door and stormed into the hall where Black Star was strutting in their direction.

When he saw them he reversed, heading back to the open window. "FINALLY! WHAT THE HECK TOOK YOU GUYS SO LONG? THE MIGHTY BLA-!"

He was cut off as Maka Spartan-kicked him out the open window.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the fluffy mcfluffikins! Next chapter has fightin action! Woo! Send me your love and convince me to update faster ^.~**


	11. Chapter 11

**Wow, writing this chapter was really hard for some reason. Plot development is usually the easy part but not this time! I like that more than one person freaked out an innocent bystander reading the last chapter, it made me laugh. And yes, Soul does sing-or at least the guy who does his voice in the Japanese-dubbed anime does-but the voice I know for him is the guy who does his voice in the English-dubbed anime. Micah something-or-another, really sexy voice. ****Anyway, hopefully the next chapter will be easier to write!**

**Azure.**

* * *

"So what kind of break-through did Stein have?" Maka asked as she ran, keeping pace with Black Star and outpacing Tsubaki and Soul.

Black Star had insisted that there was no time to get the bike, but Soul suspected that he just didn't want to get left in their dust. The meisters were evenly matched as long as Black Star didn't pull his famous "speed star" move and as long as Soul ran on his own. While Soul knew that Maka appreciated that he was sturdy and hefted enough weight to easily free a Kishin from the burden of its head, he was still heavy.

"Like he'd tell me. He wanted everyone together so he didn't have to repeat himself." Black Star sulked as they ran.

They made it a few blocks in relative silence before a familiar voice called out to them.

"Hey! We know those guys! They're our buddies! HI BUDDIES!" Patty jumped up and down, halfway exposed through the sunroof of the limousine she rode in.

"You guys want a ride?" Liz opened the side door and the whole group turned at the corner, racing down the block to pile in the car.

The weapons fell to the floor in a jumbled heap as the car started forward again and the meisters used the momentum to land into seats. Soul was just starting to extract himself from the floor when a slender, gloved hand obstructed his view. He looked up to see Maka offering him a hand up from the floor with a smile gracing her lips.

He let her pull him into the seat next to her, debating briefly on whether or not to put his arm around the back of her chair. The others were talking, speculating about what Stein's break-through could be, but Soul was preoccupied.

_We almost kissed. I almost kissed Maka… Maka almost kissed me!_ The thoughts looped in his head over and over as he kept sneaking glances at his meister. He could still feel her skin under his hands, her powerful body trembling like a newborn kitten in his arms. _Damnit! I can't take much more of this!_ He fidgeted in his seat until he felt Maka's hand, velvety in her glove, open next to his own. He glanced at her sideways and noted the pink tinge in her cheeks as he gratefully laced his fingers with hers.

Their relationship shift was too new and too unstable for Soul to feel secure. He worried about Maka having second thoughts and backing out. He knew her history with her father and how that had made her distrust Soul in the past in their platonic relationship. Now that it seemed they were evolving into a romantic relationship he was more concerned than ever about her.

He looked at her again and felt some relief as he noted her relaxed posture, her faint smile and her tight fingers around his own. She even seemed to be leaning into him a little without even noticing.

A tug on his hand made him blink in surprise, realizing that Maka was leaning intentionally, bumping his shoulder with her own to get his attention. "We're here space cadet."

"Oh." Soul shook his head sharply to try to stay focused. "Right."

He followed the others out of the car, letting his meister pull him along behind her and only reluctantly releasing her once they were out of the car. For once he realized that he could care less about what was going on in the city. The only thing on his mind was finishing that kiss that had been almost started in his room, or finish the one that Maka tried to start in her room, or start a whole new kiss in the living room or even the kitchen.

_That's it. I'm going to kiss Maka in every room in the house when we get home. Twice._ He smiled to himself. Hours before he was barely able to process his own jealousy at the thought of Maka going on a date, now all he could think about was claiming his meister as thoroughly as was humanly possible. _I wonder how Maka would react if I gave her a hickey… a big one right on her neck…_ He grinned.

"Soul? You okay? You look kind of like you're plotting something…" Maka peered up at him through her bangs.

"Yeah, I'm fine, let's just get this over with." He frowned at the minute cuts on Maka's lips, reminding himself of his own personal vendetta against whoever was behind the nightmarish creatures.

"Okay…" They jogged to catch up to the rest of the group, a few of whom were starting to look at them suspiciously. Liz even nudged Kid with her elbow and gave Maka a grin and a thumbs-up.

Soul nearly stumbled as he worked out their little interaction. **_That's_**_ what she meant by 'it wasn't a real date'! I was set up! _Another thought chased the heels of his revelation. _That means… Maka really was that upset earlier just because she was jealous. _He smirked.

Kid pulled open the door to the death room and the group filed in, no longer intimidated by the long walk under the guillotines since they'd done it so many times.

"Heya! Hiya! Good to see ya!" Lord Death bobbled in front of his mirror, flanked by four very familiar figures.

"MAKAAA!"

"Hello Papa." Maka said, not with excitement but also lacking the usual outright malice.

Spirit tripped over his own feet, unused to the comparative warmth of the greeting. Maka stepped aside so he could skid past and face-plant into the nearest guillotine. She climbed the low podium as her father lay bleeding and flung her arms around the most fragile-looking person there.

"Crona! It's so good to see you! How was your mission?" She asked excitedly.

Soul knew that she was genuinely excited by seeing their friend but he also could see the subtle worried set of her jaw as she surveyed the pink-haired meister. Crona's childhood had been extremely hard, full of abuse and backwards morals and Soul knew that Maka worried whenever her friend was out of touch for too long.

He himself did a quick survey of the gangly meister, noting the dark circles under his eyes that seemed lessened by the brightness of his eyes as he looked around at all his friends. As each and every one of them exclaimed how glad they were to see Crona, that brightness grew and some color returned to his face. Maka in particular treated Crona like a kid sister, but Soul didn't think Crona minded.

"Oh. Uh, my mission was good…" Crona responded belatedly to Maka's question, flustered as usual.

"Crona was working on a different mission for me when he crossed paths with your mission Maka and Soul." Lord Death stated, getting everyone's attention. "With this new information I want all of you to collaborate on ending this within the next twenty-four hours."

"Why the sudden rush job dad?" Kid asked.

"The source of the SAD cases and ultimately the creator of the soul-sucking leech creatures is a witch." Stein answered, cigarette in hand. "We don't think the primary purpose is to weaken children. From my own research and study of the leeches I believe that they were originally designed to completely consume the soul of their host and take over their body."

"Like that movie _Slither_!" Liz exclaimed, hand over her mouth in horror.

"Was that the alien movie with the giant slug guy controlling all the zombified people with slugs in their brains?" Patty asked her.

"Except for the giant slug part, you're on the right track. The parasites will enslave the children to the witch's will, making them quite zombie-like." Stein adjusted the screw in his head with a few audible clicks.

"How do you know for sure that it's a witch? And why kids?" Soul's attention was finally fully on the case at hand. For the most part he saw what he and Maka did for the academy as a job, a duty and sometimes it even felt like chores. But whenever kids got involved he got mad and made it personal.

"She's using children because the parasites grow strongest on pure souls, and having an army of children has as many advantages as disadvantages." Stein replied. "As for how we know it's a witch, you'll have to ask Crona."

Crona paled as all eyes turned to him. "Uh… well there was a rumor… in the town I was in with Ragnarok…"

"Hurry it up would ya!" Ragnarok popped out of Crona's back and perched on his head. "Man you tell stories like an old woman!"

"It's not a story! It's a report!" Crona protested meekly. "And it's important so let me tell it…"

"Nah! I want to tell it! So we dropped by the witches mass on Lord Death's orders and heard this rumor going around. Some witch named Circe did some experiments a few years back that the grand witch didn't like, some crap about kids and souls and armies to take over the world. She got banished and nobody's heard from her since. Hey Tsubaki, you got any food?"

Tsubaki blinked in surprise, obviously taken by surprise by the switch of subject matter. She smiled hesitantly despite her pallor and pulled a piece of candy from her pocket. "I always keep something around in case I see you."

"Thank you for the report." Stein nodded in approval at Ragnarok and Crona. "With this new information we know we can put a stop to this once and for all. Given the time of the first reported affected children we estimate that we have twenty-four hours before the parasites completely consume the souls of any we missed."

"And we have a new technique to combat soul-protect." Lord Death announced. "We want you to employ it to pinpoint the location of the witch. Each partnered group will take a turn searching the city; you must perform soul-resonance and push waves of your soul energy out like a radar. When you touch the witch's soul with a wave of your own your energy should bounce back to you."

"Like echolocation." Maka frowned. "That's going to take an enormous amount of energy and effort isn't it?"

"That's why we're going to be alternating teams." Marie spoke for the first time. "Two teams will go out in search while Stein and I, Crona and Ragnarok and the third team will rest and prepare for the battle. We'll switch every four hours."

"Starting with Black Star, Tsubaki and Kid and the Thompson sisters." Stein handed the meisters folded-up maps as he spoke. "The areas you'll search are marked clearly on there so that we won't waste time or energy searching any area twice. You five will do the first search while Maka and Soul return home and rest. At 2 AM you'll switch, so try to get some sleep."

Maka looked at her map and did some quick math. If they did four shifts given the area marked on the map then the whole city would be searched by the early afternoon. "But professor, what if we haven't found the witch? What if she moves from a part of the city we haven't searched into a part of the city we have?"

"Once an area has been searched, Lord Death can seal it from witches." Stein explained shortly.

Death nodded. "I can't put up any wards now because we still would have no idea where Circe is. But once an area is clear I can make sure she doesn't go into it. So make sure you call when you're done searching your area."

"Yes sir!" They did variations of a salute, ranging from Patty's actual salute, to Tsubaki's bow, to Soul's casual nod.

"We can drop you two off at home and Black Star and Tsubaki in the area they're searching." Kid volunteered.

Everyone nodded in agreement. The information was too much and varied for them to do anything but try and process it. They walked back towards the car, leaving Spirit to regain consciousness on his own.

Soul was the last person to get in the car and he took the only empty seat next to Black Star and across from Maka. He wanted to be next to her but from the angle he was seated he could watch her easily, which was almost as good.

Maka was frowning and thinking but when the car started moving she glanced up and caught Soul watching her. They locked gazes for a moment and she blushed, making him smirk.

_You're so fucking cute. _Soul thought. The knowledge that she could kick his ass was there but for some reason that just made her even more attractive to him.

"Sooo… Kid, what's your take on the whole situation?" Maka asked, trying to cover her fluster.

They talked and planned and theorized and Soul didn't care. He only wanted to get the whole problem taken care of so he could go back to figuring out his relationship with his meister. It was all so confusingly simple.

"Come on Soul." Maka urged, halfway out the car.

He'd spaced out again and they were at the apartment already. "Yeah I'm coming." He muttered.

"THAT'S WHAT **SHE** SAID!" Black Star cracked up at his own joke and Soul rolled his eyes, following his meister out of the car.

Maka unlocked the door and they kicked off their shoes—although it took Maka a little longer than Soul to unbuckle and slip out of her boots—and slumped down on the couch together. Soul slipped his arm around her shoulders, sliding a side-ways glance to see if the gesture was welcome or not. He relaxed when Maka turned her head into the curve of his shoulder, finding an alcove that fit her perfectly against his body.

_What took us so long? You were made to fit me._ Soul rested his chin on top of her head. _Or I was made to fit you. Whatever._

"What do we do now?" Maka mumbled into his leather jacket, breathing deeply through her nose.

"Something cool." Soul grinned when Maka snorted a laugh.

"I've never been very cool." She looked up, but didn't meet his eyes. "Is… Is that okay?"

Soul frowned. "Don't worry. I'm cool enough for both of us."

She looked away and he kicked himself mentally. _Great, wrong answer Soul._

"I want you to think I'm cool." She whispered.

Soul tightened the arm that was around her and gave her a gentle shake so she'd look at him again. "Maka. You kick serious ass. You're smart and beautiful and I think you're incredibly cool."

"Really?" She looked at him hopefully. "You think I'm… beautiful?" She blushed.

He flushed and swallowed hard. "Yeah I guess I do."

"Cool." She grinned despite her reddened cheeks and he laughed.

"Let's just try to get some sleep okay?" he ruffled her hair. "We're going to have a long night ahead of us."

She looked confused by the subject shift but straightened, pushing away from the warmth of Soul's body and trying to stand. He caught her wrist and pulled her back down. From there he wrapped an arm around her middle and twisted both of them so they were laying on the couch with Soul on the outside. He turned on his side so his back was to the room and he and Maka were facing each other.

"I sleep really well on this couch." He said pleasantly.

He felt Maka's smile against his chest as she snuggled into him. They lay in comfortable silence for a few minutes and Soul was just starting to drift off when Maka's voice whispered something.

"Hmm?" He cracked one eye open and looked down at his meister who was for some reason blushing again.

"I… I think you're… really attractive too." She said.

That got both of his eyes open in surprise. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm not saying it again." She glared at him.

He was forcefully reminded that his meister was headstrong, stubborn and a pain in the neck in addition to being sweet, cute and gentle.

"Alright alright, don't get your panties in a twist. You just took me by surprise is all." He rolled his eyes and rubbed a hand in small circles on her back until she relaxed again before voicing his next question. "… Why?"

"I guess you're my type." She murmured sleepily.

He paused, processing that with his sharp teeth, red eyes and white hair he'd beaten Kid's symmetry and everyone else's normalcy. "Cool."

**

* * *

****I've really gotten into Bleach, both the manga and the anime, and that will probably be my next endeavor but I'm thinking of doing an AU for once, something really out of left field, your thoughts?**  



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